Researchers at the University of Toronto have charted a spike in food insecurity since the introduction of Nutrition North Canada in 2011, calling into question the federal program’s approach and claims that it has been successful.
Researchers at the University of Toronto have charted a spike in food insecurity since the introduction of Nutrition North Canada in 2011, calling into question the federal program’s approach and claims that it has been successful.
Food insecurity is the insecure or inadequate access to food due to a lack of money. In 2010, it affected 33 per cent of households in Nunavut – almost three times the national average. But the U of T study showed that by 2014, when Nutrition North was fully implemented, food insecurity had increased to 46 per cent of households.
The increase in food insecurity remained even after the researchers accounted for macroeconomic trends and changes in household characteristics over time. The findings were published today in Canadian Medical Association Journal.
“These results are shockingly bad,” says Valerie Tarasuk, the paper’s senior author and a professor in U of T’s department of nutritional sciences.
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