Background

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) is responsible for the Northern Air Stage Program, also known as the Food Mail Program. Under this program, INAC makes payments to Canada Post to subsidize the transportation of food and other goods by air to isolated northern communities. The program is designed to reduce the cost of nutritious perishable food and other essential items, thereby improving the nutrition, health and well-being of people living in isolated communities. The program provides the lowest postage rate for Nutritious Perishable Foods, but also permits non-perishable foods and certain non-food items to be shipped at higher rates. Foods of Little Nutritional Value (e.g., pop, candy, potato chips, prepared sandwiches) and high-fat Convenience Perishable Foods (e.g., fried chicken) do not qualify for the program.

To evaluate the impact of the program on food consumption, nutrition, food security and health, INAC undertook nutrition surveys of Inuit and First Nations women of childbearing age (15 to 44) in 1992 and 1993 in five communities in Nunavut (Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, Repulse Bay, Coral Harbour and Gjoa Haven), two communities in Labrador (Nain and Natuashish) and one in Ontario (Fort Severn). The results of these surveys were published in 1994. ¹ The surveys were repeated in 1997 in Repulse Bay and Pond Inlet. The results of the 1997 surveys were published in 2001. ²

Santé Québec also conducted health and nutrition surveys in 14 communities in Nunavik in 1992. Unlike the INAC surveys, the Santé Québec survey included both men and women aged 18 to 74. Since these communities are also eligible for the Food Mail Program, some of the results of the nutrition component of this survey were also published by INAC in 1994. ³

All of these surveys included a 24-hour diet recall and a food frequency questionnaire, as well as a sociodemographic, health and lifestyle questionnaire. This document presents revised data from the 24-hour recalls in the 1992 and 1993 INAC surveys and from the Santé Québec Health Survey among the Inuit of Nunavik, 1992. For comparative purposes, the results of the 24-hour recalls from the 1997 surveys are also presented.

Revisions to the 1992 and 1993 data were necessary to correct a number of errors and inconsistencies discovered in the Canadian Nutrient File and Health Canada's nutrient file for country foods, in the classification of foods by food group and Food Mail category, and in the calculation of cooked weights of certain country foods. Also, it was discovered that the nutrient values for bannock had been omitted from the records for several recalls in Nunavik. Some of these errors were detected in the process of preparing a report on Northern Food Baskets ⁴ and in comparing the results of the surveys conducted in Repulse Bay and Pond Inlet in 1997 with the earlier surveys in these communities.

In 1996, certain high-fat convenience products, such as frozen breaded fried chicken, were reclassified as Convenience Perishable Foods and became ineligible for the Food Mail Program. To facilitate comparison across years, the 1996 Food Mail classification system was used for this analysis. Since 1992, there have also been minor changes to the eligibility or classification of certain other foods. These changes were incorporated into this revision.

In most cases, the revisions did not result in major changes in energy or nutrient intakes. Compared with the results that were published previously, however, there was a 5% increase in mean energy intake among Inuit men 45 and over in Nunavik, a 9% reduction in mean energy intake in Fort Severn and a 22% reduction in mean folate intake in Arctic Bay.

The data presented here use nutrient values for ovenroasted and boiled Canada goose and for magnesium in Arctic char that were not available for the original analysis. ⁵ Use of these new values for Canada goose accounted for the reduction in energy intake in Fort Severn. Compared with the results previously published, the mean intakes of fat and saturated fat in this community were also reduced by 27% and 24%, respectively, and the mean intakes of protein and iron increased by 18% and 50%, respectively - largely because of the new nutrient values for goose. Using these new values also affected the results for Nunavik, though much less so than in Fort Severn, where large amounts of goose were eaten during the survey period.

The major revisions to the data relate to the source of certain nutrients and the importance of country food and Nutritious Perishable Foods in the diet. Reclassification of goose from Nutritious Perishables to country food made the latter category much more important to the diet in Fort Severn than previously reported and affected the results in Nunavik as well. Reclassification of certain species of fish and shellfish into this category also increased the dietary contribution of country food in Nain and Nunavik. There were also some significant revisions to the mean amounts of certain nutrients obtained from various food groups, as a result of correcting some inconsistencies in the classification.

¹ Judith Lawn and Neima Langner, Air Stage Subsidy Monitoring Program: Final Report, Volume 2: Food Consumption Survey (Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1994). Selected results of these surveys were also published in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Food Security in Northern Canada: A Discussion Paper on the Future of the Northern Air Stage Program (Ottawa, 1994).

² Judith Lawn and Dan Harvey, Change in Food Security and Nutrition in Two Inuit Communities, 1992 to 1997 (Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 2001).

³ Judith Lawn and Neima Langner, Air Stage Subsidy Monitoring Program: Final Report, Volume 3: Quebec Results (Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1994).

⁴ Judith Lawn and Frederick Hill, Alternative Northern Food Baskets (Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1998).

⁵ Values for energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, iron and zinc were obtained from D. L. Belinsky and H. V. Kuhnlein, "Macronutrient, mineral and fatty acid composition of Canada goose (Branta canadensis): an important traditional food resource of the Eastern James Bay Cree of Quebec," Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, Vol. 13 (2000), pp. 101-115. Saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat were calculated for boiled Canada goose, using the proportions published for roasted Canada goose. Nutrient values for vitamins and other minerals were estimated by applying the ratio of these nutrients in domestic duck and wild duck to domestic goose. A value for magnesium in raw Arctic char was obtained from H. V. Kuhnlein, O. Receveur, H. M. Chan and E. Loring, Assessment of Dietary Benefit/Risk in Inuit Communities (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec: Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, 2000), p. 197.

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