Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, rise here today to support the motion brought forward by the honourable Mr. Yakeleya, and the seconder, Mr. Hawkins. I do appreciate all the work that’s gone into providing the information here today.

It goes without saying, too, there are a lot of champions behind the scenes, not only in this government but governments across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as the Yukon, and none more other than my fellow Twitter follower – and I follow him, as well – the honourable Mr. Ron Elliott in Nunavut. He’s been a strong champion of that in the Nunavut Legislature.

Really, in essence, how do you measure the success or failure of a program, any program for

that matter? And I’ll tell you, the answer is quite simple: The people will tell you. This particular initiative has been definitely brought forward very heavily, as Member Bisaro indicated, in the social media and Facebook. This has been a heavy, heavy Twitter following in terms of concern. I think the people have spoken loud and clear. We need to ask ourselves, did this new Nutrition North Program improve access to healthy foods. Again, I believe the people have spoken, and I believe it’s important that at this time we listen and heed to their wishes, and I think this motion does declare that wish.

For intents and purposes, many believe the intent was there. Yet, the better question we should be asking is: Do we meet the demands of providing healthy eating choices for the health and well-being of the people of the North? Again, I believe that answer is put into question today.

In 2012 a joint report coming from the Canadian Circumpolar Institute with the University of Alberta and the University of Oulu, Finland, identified clearly many indigenous peoples in the North have replaced their traditional food with, “a largely western diet that is partially responsible for the increase and the prevalence of chronic health problems such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”

The motion today speaks well beyond the walls of the simple intake of carbohydrates, protein and sugar. It speaks to the problems we as a society have imposed on to our northern cultures in terms of health and well-being. It’s time that we need to mop up the shortcomings of this Nutrition North Program, and this motion provides the viable options that will make our health care costs more sustainable in this part of Canada. For those reasons alone, I will be in support of this motion.