Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As people struggle with the high cost of living, providing adequate, affordable and nutritious food to our families can be a challenge. We are dependent on costly southern food, so the affordability of eating right is an issue. When we rely on food from the South, we export our purchasing dollars to the South, and instead of local jobs and businesses, we support jobs and investment afar. Greenhouse gas production increases from transporting food long distances.
The affect some communities have experienced from changes to federal air mail demonstrates the problem we all face. We aren’t meeting local food needs with local supplies. Some progress is being made towards developing our NWT food supply industry. We now have a start on community gardens in most NWT communities, the beginnings of fresh local produce and demonstrating the enormous potential remaining to be tapped.
Kids at schools such as the Kay Tay Whee School in Detah, and perhaps these children here today, provide a good example. They are learning that gardening is not only possible, but fun and tasty.
Fresh NWT-laid commercial eggs will be available inside our borders this fall. The Growing Forward Program supports small-scale food production, commercial development of northern agri-foods, support for the harvesting, processing and marketing of fish and meat, and for traditional harvesting. Exotic mushrooms, birch syrup and studies to expand berry harvesting are happening right here in Yellowknife. Great Slave Fisheries could, and should, meet both regional needs and a top-scale international fish market. I doff my cap to the intrepid core of food production enthusiasts and the food hunting and fishing public across all of our communities, but great challenges remain, some at a very basic level.
The NWT soil survey of 2008 indicates there are 1.3 million hectares of arable land in the South Slave and Deh Cho regions alone, yet only eight agricultural leases exist today, a total area of 170 hectares or one 7,000th of the total potential. Most basically, we lack a long-term plan for agriculture including an NWT food production policy that includes support for infrastructure development and access to land.
When we talk about reducing the cost of living, local food production is essential. By growing our capacity, we will improve the quality and price of healthy food, and opportunities for employment and investment, while building the resilience and self-reliance of our communities. Let’s develop a reliable food policy with the necessary supports and guide this opportunity to full success. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
