Northern Community Members Invited to Participate in Survey

THUNDER BAY – Many communities in Northern Canada, and across Northern Ontario have grocery prices that would startle the average person in the south. Prices for common items that are ten to twenty times the price in the south are sadly common in the north. Nutrition North, a federal government program was set up to help. Many in the north are deeply concerned that the Nutrition North program is not as effective as it could be.

The extremely high cost of food has long been a problem in northern and rural communities in Canada.

Through social media campaigns such as Feeding My Family, we have all become familiar with images of everyday goods priced shamefully high – for example, a case of bottled water costing more than $100.

Lakehead University is exploring community experiences with retailers and market-based foods in remote and rural regions of Northern Canada.

Northern residents are invited to share their experiences and concerns in an online survey available at http://fluidsurveys.com/s/northfoodcosts.

The survey will be available from November 12, 2014 until April 1, 2015.

As one of the researchers on the project, Dr. Kristin Burnett notes, “Food is a basic human right and we believe that if we can record people’s experiences and concerns they can be used as an important tool to fight for positive change.”