Funding for the Territorial Agri-Food Association and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation support innovative solutions to strengthen Northern food systems
Everyone deserves access to affordable, fresh food, no matter where they live. That's why the government of Canada is making strategic investments to offset the high costs of labour, transportation, and socio-economic challenges that impact the ability of northerners and Indigenous peoples to grow, harvest and buy local food.
Today, on Canada's Agriculture Day, the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, PrairiesCan and CanNor, and Michael McLeod, Member of Parliament, Northwest Territories, announced an investment of $92,405 to support two agri-food related projects in the Northwest Territories. These projects focus on different aspects of Northern food systems and make use of innovative, community driven solutions.
The Territorial Agri-Food Association is a grassroots organization that advocates for and promotes food production in NWT, and contributes to diverse employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for NWT's residents. The Association's project aims to improve knowledge sharing and collaboration between small- and medium-sized agricultural businesses to help address food insecurity issues faced by remote Northern communities in NWT. This includes planning a conference to build on this initiative.
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation's (IRC) project focuses on creating a strategy to expand the operational capacity and production at its meat processing facility. The Inuvialuit Community Economic Development Organization (ICEDO), in close partnership with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, manages the Beaufort Delta Reindeer Herd and operates the community-owned meat processing plant to provide Inuvialuit with traditional foods.
CanNor supports NWT's food production sector to help the territory's people and communities have better access to food and services year-round.
