 |
Experts are concerned with rising levels of
obesity among Aboriginal children. |
OTTAWA
| Jan.
26 ,
2007 — Health
Canada will release a food guide later this year specifically for
Aboriginal Canadians. However, critics argue the
cost of healthy food in isolated northern communities remains high, and
access to traditional foods in urban areas is the real problem.
The Aboriginal guide, a companion to the new Canada
Food Guide, is expected
to feature traditional foods like wild game, fish and berries,
and it will suggest alternative sources of calcium since First Nations
people tend to be lactose-intolerant. The Aboriginal guide is still
in the consultation stage, with national Aboriginal groups and nutritionists
providing input.
Rod Jacobs, a sport and physical activity expert for Aboriginal
Sport Circle, says the guide will
create more dialogue between government and Aboriginal groups, but worries
it will not address the larger issues surrounding Aboriginal nutrition.
Jacobs has not seen the draft guide, and his organization was not consulted
on the issue, although last October he made a presentation to the House
of Commons Health committee about Aboriginal children's obesity.
"Basically, developing a food guide is very difficult because
you have to consider the traditional foods that are out there, and the
unique places we live in too," he says, adding that traditional
foods vary widely from region to region and even within provinces. He
also pointed to the cost of healthy food in isolated northern communities,
areas with large Aboriginal populations.
Healthy foods costly in North
High transportation costs mean a bag of apples could cost the same
as three or four large bags of potato chips, "which would feed
your family longer," Jacobs says.
"I'm hoping this guide is part A of a long-term strategy and that
development will ultimately indicate what Aboriginal organizations have
been saying for years about our isolated brothers and sisters [needing
help]," he says.
 |
Heather McAvoy, a registered dietician, attends
Health Canada’s Food Guide Advisory Committee meeting on
Jan. 25. |
Heather McAvoy, a registered dietician in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan,
who is serving on Health Canada's Food Guide Advisory Committee, also
worries about the transportation costs that result in expensive healthy
food outside of urban areas.
She says milk in rural northern Saskatchewan
can cost four or five times what it does in Regina, and that the government
should look at more options for reducing the cost. McAvoy says the
federal government currently offers a rebate program called Food
Mail, but it is not widely used.
According to Statistics Canada, First
Nations, Métis and Inuit people make up three per cent of the Canadian
population.
"I think if you look at the stats, that
three per cent all across Canada, [the need for a guide] doesn't
show up, but there are many areas in Canada where [the Aboriginal population
in the community] is much, much higher," says McAvoy, adding that
Aboriginal people make up half the population of Prince Albert.
McAvoy says the Aboriginal guide will be "a very welcome addition
to [her] arsenal of tools" in helping to educate a group that has
a high incidence of diet-related health problems such as type-2 diabetes,
osteoporosis, heart disease and bowel cancers.
Traditional foods expensive in urban areas
While the cost of healthy food is prohibitive in some remote areas,
the cost of traditional foods could be just as troublesome for the half
of Aboriginal Canadians who live in urban areas.
"If somebody from B.C. comes here [to Ottawa], west coast salmon
is very expensive," Jacobs says, adding that most urban Aboriginals
will probably stick to the main food guide rather than using the Aboriginal-specific
guide — if they use any guide at all.
McAvoy isn't concerned about the difficulty of finding typically
Aboriginal foods in urban areas, since many people have relatives living
on their traditional lands who provide them with wild game and other
food.
The Aboriginal companion guide was conceived, says Health Canada spokeswoman
Carole Saindon, during the main guide's development, a process that
took five years from the time Health Canada first considered the revision.
Saindon says the Aboriginal guide is based on the same science as the
main guide, but will be adapted for First Nations, Métis and Inuit people.
The main guide cost $1.5 million, with the cost of the Aboriginal guide
still to be determined. 
|
Health Canada - Food Guide to Healthy Eating