Food Crisis in Nunavut Prompts Call to Action on January 31

Feeding My Family is calling for support in a day of action to boycott North West Company (NWC) stores on January 31, 2015.
For the past three years, communities in Nunavut and across the North have been organizing protests against the high cost of food. Food prices are as high as $28 for a head of cabbage, and sometimes stores shelves are empty or sell rotten food. In Nunavut, although Inuit traditional practices and hunting remain strong, the legacy of colonization (such as permanent settlements and residential schools) and the high cost of hunting equipment means families have to rely on store-bought food.
There are lots of northerners who are unable to feed themselves and their families, and we have heard a lot of mothers who are not eating so their children will eat. Over 70 per cent of families in Nunavut have experienced hunger at one time or another. Some families are even searching the local dump for food.
This boycott is about standing together as one against a corporation that has been making millions off us for years. The NWC is rooted in our colonial history. Dating back to 1668, it was a major force in the fur trade and merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821. Now operating independently, NWC is currently the dominant retailer in northern Canada and Alaska and also owns stores internationally in the South Pacific, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. In some isolated communities, NWC runs a virtual monopoly as the only store in the community to buy food, household goods, and to do banking.
The business of food in the North makes a hefty profit. Food prices in Nunavut are 140 per cent higher than the rest of Canada, while NWC has been recording record profits with a net earning of $64 million in 2013. The federal subsidy program, Nutrition North Canada, subsidizes NWC (and other northern retailers) for the shipping costs of healthy foods, claiming that the subsidy will trickle down to consumers. But the Auditor General of Canada’s recent audit could not verify whether the northern retailers were passing on the full subsidy to consumers. This raises questions about whether Nutrition North is actually subsidizing the profits of NWC.
The boycotts of NWC stores on January 31 are being organized right across the North, from Nunavut to Alaska. People in southern Canada can also join the boycott of NWC-owned Giant Tiger stores. Retailers owned by NWC include NorthMart, Northern, Quickstop, Valu Lots, Solo Market, Price Chopper, Cost-U-Less, and Alaskan Commercial (AC) Value Stores. Wholesale and Services include We Financial and Crescent Multi Food.
This action is for our mothers, fathers, grandparents and children who cannot afford to put food on the table. This is not about people making different life choices, this is not about what is healthy food or not, this is about high cost of food in the North. In some isolated communities, NWC is the only store to buy food. These communities do not have the choice to join the boycott, just as they do not have a choice over their food. This boycott is to stand with them, too.
Take Action in the South
With this day of action, we are calling on NWC and governments to do more to lower food prices and to stop the sale of food that is rotten. You can support our actions by writing to your Member of Parliament and the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development:
Bernard Valcourt
Twitter: @Min_BValcourt
Our aim is also to raise awareness of what is happening in our communities in the North. Please stand with us and help us share this message.
10 Comments
I didn’t realize that Giant Tiger is part of the NWC empire. I do know that in Manitoba because of the liquor control act alcohol sells for the same price in Churchill as it does in Winnipeg. Milk on the other hand is around 4 times as much in Churchill as it is in Winnipeg.
In other words a decent bottle of wine is cheaper than 4 litres of milk!
From Glenda Osanch in MB on Jan 26th, 2015 at 1:10pm
Trickle down economics has never worked but it is used to justify all manner of bad decisions that benefit the ones that need it least. I find it odd (not really) that the Harper Conservatives can demand accountability from native bands but not from “white” companies who they subsidize to provide goods and services to remote areas. While it is true that not only native people have to buy these goods they do represent the majority.
From Wayne Gabriel in Ontario on Jan 26th, 2015 at 6:18pm
Was this designed to make the company rich at the expense of a basic necessity of life ?
From Eileen Warren in Canada on Jan 27th, 2015 at 3:07am
I support your boycott and will share this post. What you are putting up with is shameful.
From DBW in Ham ON on Jan 27th, 2015 at 1:38pm
Surely, no executive or storekeeper should be able to sleep knowing this! Shame!
From Monica Walters in Toronto on Jan 27th, 2015 at 9:44pm
Really??? It should be illegal to hold food hostage anywhere from anyone, let alone the north! It is a 3 hour flight – it can’t be that costly to add another freight plane to deliver fresh food more frequently and the cost of the food should drop with the amount of money they are making. You know we are so busy sending money to 3rd world countries that we can’t look after our own!!!! Please do not let one corporation dictate when and what people are going to eat! Malnutritioned people are non productive people! In cold weather our bodies require more fuel and healthy fuel! There should be a ceiling cap on the amount that can be charged for food in remote areas. My daughter was there for 7 months so I am aware of the conditions there. Enough is Enough – somebody has to be listening and shame on North Mart!!!!
From Lynn McLaughlin in York Rgion on Jan 29th, 2015 at 3:03pm
This is very sad. The North should have smaller food prices and a better chance of food then it has this present day. We from Canada should have the same food prices everywhere. Maybe it costs more to ship the food into the North but that should not stop us from having good food prices for everyone. The rotten food should be changed to good food. I have a personal interest of the North (Iqaluit, Nunavut) even though I don’t live there. From the complaints that I heard on the websites and videos, I found out that most of this is about the high food prices, which leads to people having poor access to proper food. I would like to take action to change this.
From Jonas Baltakis on Jan 29th, 2015 at 5:48pm
I support this boycott! Under no circumstance should someone make a dollar off someone who is vulnerable just to sustain their right in the world to eat!
From lori on Jan 31st, 2015 at 10:50am
I know this .. and it is kept quiet .. .. I Moosonee On.. freight t is shipped by train… and northern pays about was paying about 0.014 cents a pound. They would still mark it up by 40 to 45 percent for food… such things as candy ,, spices etc.. can be marked up to 300 percent. see where I am going? Clothing articles.. look closer… you can these in the south at bargain deals.. as marked down due to uneven cuts or stitching.. etc.. clothes etc marked up to 250 to 400 percent.. and when as a consumer buying things on sale.. little do you realize your packing their pockets still. Now this is a few examples… I suppose you imagine the rest of …. well…
From anonymous in Moose factory Ont... on Jan 31st, 2015 at 8:28pm
make a profit yes but to outright put the screws to people is disgusting
From Rhonda Villeneuve in calgary on Feb 3rd, 2015 at 1:13pm