The Nutrition North will receive a $32 million investment, and this is intended to help improve the access to food for northern communities. With the announcement of the additional funding many are pushing once more to add Fort Chipewyan to the program. According to a statement by Thomas Mulcair, the NDP Leader, when he stopped in Iqaluit on Tuesday “Stephen Harper has used northern communities as convenient photo-ops for years while failing to address the most basic concerns of families – access to affordable food.” Attempts to include Fort Chipewyan in the Nutrition North program have been made in the past but these attempts were not successful. According to estimates frm the NDP the cost of this move would be around $211,000.

Being part of the Nutrition Noth program would offer some relief to many in the Fort Chipewyan community, a community where food can be very costly. The program allows retailers to receive public funds intended to offset higher transportation and food costs for remote communities, and the subsidy is passed along to the community in the form of lower and more affordable food prices. Fort McMurray-Cold Lake’s NDP candidate Melody Lepine has stated her intention to keep fighting to include Fort Chipewyan in the Nutrition North program. Many point out that the cost of food in Fort Chipewyan can rival what is found in the most remote northern communities. A 4 litre bottle of milk can be as high as $18. Lepine also supports adjusting the Zone status of the entire Fort McMurray region, saying “Moving into a Zone A region with high pay would be an incentive for people moving here. The cost of living is a concern I keep hearing from constituents. This would help during tax time and put a little more money in their pockets.”