Food Mail

The Food Mail program, also known as the Northern Air Stage Program, pays part of the cost of shipping nutritious, perishable food by air to isolated communities. Anyone, including retailers and individuals, can receive Food Mail if suppliers in the south have a Food Mail account with Canada Post. INAC funding to Canada Post helps keep the cost of shipping food down.

The program provides the lowest postage rate for nutritious perishable foods. These foods, such as vegetables, fruit, bread, meat and milk, can be shipped as food mail for $0.80 per kilogram plus $0.75 per parcel. The rate has not changed since July 1993. Non-perishable food and some essential non-food items can also be shipped under this program at higher postage rates. Foods of little nutritional value, such as soft drinks and potato chips, are not funded.

All isolated northern communities that do not have year-round access by surface transportation are eligible, except those that are isolated only for short periods of time during freeze-up and break-up.

About 140 communities — roughly 90,000 people — are eligible for the program. Most of these are Aboriginal communities located in the three territories and in Labrador, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

For more information, contact INAC toll-free at 1 800 567-9604.

Food Mail program brochure
http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ps/nap/air/1brofoomai_e.html

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