The Costs of Local Food Procurement in Two Northern Indigenous Communities in Canada

Abstract

Remote Northern Ontario First Nations communities face severe food insecurity. Prices of store foods are often unaffordable and not always in stock. Government programs have been implemented to subsidize some of the market food costs. Our objective is to illustrate the costs associated with procuring food from the land through hunting and fishing in an effort to present this as an alternate option to relying solely on store-bought foods. Northern Ontario is an area of the world undergoing a rapid nutrition transition leading to high levels of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Despite this knowledge, little has been done to reverse this trend using land based foods, widely promoted as nutritionally beneficial. We conclude that estimated cost of food from the land requires significant energy and time, but remains economically comparable to food available in-store. Further government support should be given to community hunters to make land-based food a viable option for a larger proportion of each community.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to thank the communities of Wapekeka and Kasabonika for their support of this study. This study was made possible with funding from the Northern First Nations Environmental Contaminants Program.

Notes

1. Pseudonyms are used to maintain participant anonymity.