Inflation and barge crisis push Sahtu to look at more food banks

“The heck with pride. I tell people: if you’re hungry, if your children are hungry, if your pensioners are hungry – get it out there. That food is not doing any good sitting on the shelves. Let’s get it out there.”

Norman Wells resident Sandy Whiteman wants residents to have healthier, more affordable food options – and use the food bank if they need to.

The community has faced a spike in gas and heating fuel prices in recent months, with fuel coming in by air after the barge resupply season failed. There are also question marks over the future of Imperial Oil, a major employer in the town.

“I’ve heard discussions from people in the community saying, what are we going to do this month?” Whiteman said at a three-day meeting taking place this week in Yellowknife, where representatives from Food Banks Canada and Nutrition North are discussing with Sahtu leaders how they can better support the region.

“We’re worried about food and shelter for our family, for our children. We’re worried about heating,” said Whiteman, describing people leaving the town and house prices dropping. “If there’s an opportunity for them to move, they’re doing it,” she said of some residents.

Whiteman said the town has a food bank thanks to space Imperial Oil donated to Norman Wells for a year and a half, and that food bank is being used more and more often.

According to her, the food bank’s lease comes to an end in the next six months. What will happen then is not clear.

“For the next six months, we’re going to have to concentrate on looking for different places,” she said.

Sahtu MLA Danny McNeely said he pushed for this week’s meeting to happen during a recent trip to Ottawa.

McNeely wanted to discuss how affordable food reaches the Sahtu’s five communities, saying that residents are dealing with “all kinds of unforeseen challenges” to their food security.

“If you look at the pantry that the Town of Norman Wells is offering, they’re offering that food pantry to the public. You’ve already got a system in place. It might be a small cupboard, but we can expand on that. That would be a good starting point to immediately see results,” he said of the plan to expand food bank operations.

Sahtu Secretariat Chair Charles McNeely said lately he has heard stories of children going to school hungry. Fruit set out for students at school or other gatherings would be “gone right away.”

“My brother Danny and I, we’re trying for the Sahtu. We want to see our children succeed in school, not going to school hungry, going to sleep hungry,” he said. “Those days should be long gone.”

Things ‘getting harder’

Mayor of Tulita Douglas Yallee said residents can get fresh groceries “once in a while” at the Northern Store that supplies the community of around 500 people. Most people, he said, stock up on “as much as they can” during visits to Yellowknife.

He put the cost of a round trip from Tulita to the territorial capital at more than $2,000.

Yallee said his family’s grocery bill is “well over $1,500” every month, with the costs of home heating fuel and gas on top.

Yallee said some homeowners are installing wood stoves as a means of keeping their home heated at a lower cost this winter.

“There’s got to be a way that we can help our people out because of the high cost of living,” he said.

“This is hard. It’s going to get harder – I know it’s going to get harder. It’s coming.”

Yallee said Tulita has no food bank but with one store and increasing prices, times seem to have changed and one needs to be considered. There’s no telling when the resupply of Sahtu communities will become easier, he added.

“We may not have barges again this coming season. Hard to predict, the water is so low,” he said.

“Climate change is affecting everybody. It’s real and it’s here. Even our winter road doesn’t last too long. It’s a short window. it’s warming up too fast.”

Model for others

Nolan Polkinghorne, a northern program officer at Food Banks Canada, said one aim of this week’s meeting is to determine how Yellowknife can become a hub for food security.

Polkinghorne said the group – with which the Norman Wells food bank is affiliated – wants to ensure it has “a long-term, resilient food system that can withstand challenges like the barge, that we’ll see more often [because of] climate change.”

He said money is available and the goal is to make sure food reaches the people who need it by tapping into local knowledge and expertise.

“We can coordinate food, but communities need to be ready for it. Oftentimes, we’re hearing from communities, they have capacity to maybe hold one or two pallets of food. So we’re shipping food up but transport costs are difficult. We need to think in economies of scale,” he said.

Polkinghorne said the organization is trying to adapt by sending fewer shipments to reduce transportation costs and tailoring those shipments to local needs. As the North deals with the challenges of climate change, he said, Food Banks Canada wants to make sure “when we can ship food, that it is lasting and accessible by communities.”

He gave the example of the Wiiche’iwaymagon buying group, which is working toward building good sovereignty in northern Ontario and Manitoba.

“We were part of an effort to get communities to pool their money together and establish a buying club,” he said.

“An individual community only has so much money [but] if we get two communities together, they’re double the money, and then three communities… more money, but then you’re buying in bigger quantities. It’s cheaper.

“By collaborating together, communities have more power to bring in food.”

Food Banks Canada program officer Jay Stevens said this week’s meeting could lead to similar opportunities for residents in the Sahtu.

“We’re on the right path,” he said.

“Having a food distribution hub in Yellowknife would be a key factor in developing a Sahtu region hub.”

Stevens said Food Banks Canada is now in the early stages of ensuring food banks exist in each of the Sahtu communities.

Some funding will be available for communities that wish to start up food banks. The sum varies based on the local population and need for the service.

“This week, the discussions are for the Sahtu region. We’re hoping there is a ripple effect into the outlying communities who wish to have food bank service,” Stevens said.

The Sahtu, he said, could become a food bank model that other areas can replicate.