Photo by Vince Fedoroff
SOLUTIONS ARE MULTI-FACETED – Relying on providers of emergency meal support to solve the city’s food insecurity challenges is simply not enough, Chris Pinkerton, the Yukon Energy Food Security Network’s executive director, said Tuesday.
Local organizations are reporting food insecurity issues are growing worse in the Yukon.
Local organizations are reporting food insecurity issues are growing worse in the Yukon.
In a news release issued Tuesday, officials from the Yukon Energy Food Security Network, the Whitehorse Food Bank and the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition said the trend, which is also happening nationally, is quite clear in the territory.
“The food security crisis in Whitehorse is real and growing,” the groups stated in the release.
“The Yukon Energy Food Security Network compared data from 2021 to data from 2016.
“It shows demand for emergency meal support programs is exceeding supply — by a significant degree.”
The groups said data were collected from 16 local, non-profit and government programs.
An approximate number of emergency meal supports distributed during 2021 was calculated and correlated to census data from 2016.
“The findings are quite distressing,” Dave Blottner, the food bank’s executive director, said in the release.
“We can see that Whitehorse people are served by a hodgepodge of emergency meal supports and that those supports are unable to keep up with demand.”
The Star contacted Blottner on Tuesday morning, before the statement was released, to try to learn more about the food bank’s needs and challenges.
He said he “had no time for an interview this week” to discuss the issues further.
The data in the study revealed that emergency support programs provide about 2,000 meals a day.
However, after distribution, there were another 5,000 meals missed daily by citizens for reasons including affordability, accessibility, quantity and personal or cultural taste.
“The programs in place are generally meant to get people through a crisis,” said Kristina Craig, the anti-poverty coalition’s executive director.
“Programs are being overwhelmed, and there is no end in sight.”
“The worrying trend can be attributed to growing demand coupled with insufficient funding for food programs, dramatic increase in food costs, and supply chain changes,” added Chris Pinkerton, the food security network’s co-ordinator.
“This work demonstrates that relying on providers of emergency meal support to address the level of food insecurity in Whitehorse is simply not enough,” he said.
“The first step is admitting that food insecurity is a growing problem in the Yukon. The next step is for government, local businesses and Yukoners to come together to participate in local food networks.
“By better understanding where barriers to food security exist, we can work together to overcome them.”
In an interview with the Star, Pinkerton said none of this is new, but the degree to which food insecurity is erupting is likely the highest it has been in recent memory.
One of the contributing factors is that only one to three per cent of the food requirements in the territory is being met by local production.
“It’s not realistic” to think local agriculture can meet the needs of even the Yukon’s small population, Pinkerton said, but he suggested it can definitely do better.
“It’s absolutely a perfect storm of circumstances,” he noted.
One of those factors is definitely the effects of the relative remoteness of the Yukon, with only one main artery leading to it.
“If the trucks stop coming up that highway, our shelves are empty,” he pointed out. “We’re at the back end of the supply chain, and it’s easy to cut us off.”
That was dramatically demonstrated 10 years ago this month, when a washout severed the Alaska Highway in southeast Yukon. Supermarkets quickly ran out of such staples as meat, bread, produce, fruit and dairy products.
When it comes to financial crunches, Pinkerton said, food tumbles down the list of priorities quickly. A few skipped meals are more palatable than missing rent or bill payments.
“Rent comes first, and food tends to come last, even though you need food to feed your soul.”
Unfortunately, there’s no simple solution, Pinkerton said. “There is no single magic bullet.”
Last year, the rate of inflation on groceries was approximately eight per cent. This year is likely to see the same kind of increase.
“People are pushed to the breaking point,” Pinkerton said.
The food security network was established to improve food security in the Yukon, raise awareness and build stronger food systems, and to reduce reliance on emergency food supports.
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Comments (32)
Up 1 Down 0
MITCH on Jun 17, 2022 at 3:46 pm
@ CHRIS CALDWELL - YOU, ma'am, are a god damned local heroine and we need a lot more of you these days, not a lot less.
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CJ2 on Jun 15, 2022 at 1:01 am
@Jake, I was referring to Hitler's invasions of sovereign countries, of course, which so many people found a way to rationalize for quite some time. Rationalizations which look sordid to us from this vantage point.
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Yukoner61 on Jun 14, 2022 at 9:31 pm
@George Moss
Oh yeah, those leftist greenies NEVER grow their own food or food for others (eye roll). You must be a young buck. I still remember when hippie communes sprung up across the continent back in the day. Most grew or raised much of their own food. I never bought into all that craziness, but facts are facts. They did grow all kinds of stuff, including their wacky tobaccy of course.
Also, do all the 'movers and shakers' (which is a fancy way of saying billionaires) that you praise include the big ones like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, George Soros, Warren Buffet, the Rothschilds and Klaus Schwab? I mean they obviously played the game of capitalism better than almost everyone else. They must be conservative as well.
Up 3 Down 3
Jake on Jun 13, 2022 at 5:12 pm
@ CJ2
Not sure what your point is because in 1938 Hitlers Facists were in power and Russia was at war with them, as was most of "the West".
Russia remained as an ally until it ended in 1945 and the carcass was cut up between the victors.
If you think WW2 was against the Russians, well you demonstrate a different issue entirely.
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Groucho d'North on Jun 12, 2022 at 2:19 pm
It's not just food, but everything is worsening and it appears to be by design. We hear about the Great Reset and how it will solve all our woes. But the Great Reset will not commence until the public is forced to adopt this New World Order doctrine because our existing structures are failing and causing hardship. So if you were one of the WEF deciples how would you advance the acceptance of the Great Reset? Trudeau has many options available to make the lives of Canadians better in these trying economic times, yet he does nothing. It is well documented that he is one of the movers and shakers of establishing the Great Reset. So are our present economic challenges the fruits of a Liberal/WEF campaign to steer Canadians to an alternative method of global governance? When asked our caring and dedicated PM ignores the questions.
Up 16 Down 14
CJ2 on Jun 11, 2022 at 12:03 pm
@DL, If you are still swallowing Putin's lies about NATO being to blame for his invasion, what is there to say about the clarity of your opinions. "Don't blame Putin or Russia"? Wonder what you would have been saying in 1938.
Putin has openly compared himself to Peter the Great. It's completely astonishing to me that people capable of standing upright and feeding themselves are still buying Putin's NATO fabrications. And I doubt they'd be regretting our own membership in NATO if we were invaded.
Up 24 Down 4
My Opinion on Jun 11, 2022 at 1:53 am
Maybe Yukon Energy should cut power rates and stop wasting money on Windmills and Batteries so people could afford to eat. There is an idea for you.
Up 20 Down 7
Heave ho Liberals must go! on Jun 10, 2022 at 10:31 pm
Hello Chris Caldwell on Jun 10, 2022 at 12:34 pm:
I generally agree with what you have to say. However, I do wonder when you wrote, “I say ‘garnish’ [their] wages” if you meant with parsley, orange slices, or something else?
Perhaps the garnishment could be tied to performance ratings voted on by the public… After all they are “public servants”… No? Why should some other politician looking to score political points be given the opportunity to do so at the expense of another?
If we take away these peoples toys, one another, their own, or us etc., and force them to solve the problems that matter rather than creating problems that should not we could have a functional democracy.
Save your soul, save your planet, and stop voting for Liberal Marionettes… You can dance, you can sing, but you ain’t in control of a single thing… Liberals talk, crazy talk, they can make country a ruin…
Every time someone votes Liberal a snake is born.
Up 4 Down 15
ProScience Greenie on Jun 10, 2022 at 1:32 pm
@DL pro-tip, best not to be spouting off that GRU propaganda around any Ukrainian Canadians.
Up 33 Down 5
Chris Caldwell on Jun 10, 2022 at 12:34 pm
"Food to feed your soul" is a shocking response to human starvation and the risk of malnutrition. In light of Government creating designated homeless camping, refusing assistance to renovate housing for the homeless (eg: The Chilkoot) and requiring already financially stressed citizens to donate some of their precious over-priced groceries to food banks there needs to be some accountability for the big fat paychecks devoured by Government's oversized bureaucracy. I say garnish the wages of our disgustingly rich rulers to feed the people they've abandoned whilst pretending they give a s**t.
Up 32 Down 2
Juniper Jackson on Jun 9, 2022 at 9:11 pm
For anyone else in my senior boat.. Campbells Chicken Noodle soup is .97 a can at Walmarts. 18 days until pensions come out again and I have $7.34. Talk the philosophy of food shortages, transportation, political chit chat all you want.
No money, canned soup is the reality.
Up 15 Down 7
bonanzajoe on Jun 9, 2022 at 8:28 pm
@Mathew. Liberal food? Starts with an S and ends with a T.
Up 30 Down 11
George Moss on Jun 9, 2022 at 7:14 pm
I would be willing to bet a hundred bucks that most if not all the agricultural producers in the territory are conservative and I’ll garrantee they are not liberal or NDP that goes for most business owners, see most the shakers and movers in the world are not looking for a handout like most liberal and NDP supporters..you know what they say socialism is great till you run outa everyone else’s money…. Fricken communists.
Up 7 Down 11
Mitch Holder on Jun 9, 2022 at 4:47 pm
Hey John, I appreciate your feedback and you of course, do make some excellent points for me to consider. I thank you for making them. I will continue to assert however, that the same 3 or 4 nobodies here in town like to dislike things without contributing anything of substance as to why, and that is their right. However, I also reserve the right to call them on it - we just went through several years of leftwing gaslighting, troll-baiting and censorship, prevalently from socialist fish-sticks like the ones I mention here. I do have a problem with people having a problem with me personally in this community who are cowards and anonymous rejects who cannot match their "feelings" with argument or facts.
We both know who they are sir. Thank you again, we are all stressed with inflation and indifferent leadership. I will resolve to be a little more selective in my opinions and a little less frequent. I just want this country, this territory, my home, to go back to normal. Moved back here 3 times to find it and I will fight to keep it. Honestly, would rather have these conversations in real life, where most of people's negative behaviour is never provoked by anonymity to begin with. Perhaps I will meet you there sometime, for coffee and conversation.
PS- I learned to draw from Wyatt at the Star when I was 5. I started commenting when I came to no longer recognize the Yukon news as the local paper I grew up at. Have a good evening John. Thank you for your honesty.
Up 23 Down 4
John on Jun 9, 2022 at 3:56 pm
@ Mitch
Constructive criticism. Also, one might want to be careful about asking what you wish for, Mitch.
Many folks may be just as happy to be in the cheering squad or they simply do not agree with your view. No-one on this site is compelled to answer another author about their comment. There are a plethora of folks who enjoy bantering, or commenting with an opinion of their own. You are fairly new to commenting (at least under the handle of Mitch). Not even 8 months. Some of us have been around the corral many a year. We tend to know each other, their general views, what tickles their fancy and sometimes what buttons to push. It is not rare, but it does not happen often, when there is a debate without having to trash someone.
My observation, for whatever it is worth (not meaning to be negative), I find that you are far too opinionated. You have a comment on each and every topic that comes out. If that is your shtick then I guess that is just who you are. It is OK not to comment on everything - folks will likely take you more seriously when you pick your subjects that really have high value to you and that you are knowledgeable about. For me, because I only join in occasionally does not mean I am not interested in what others are commenting on, I do. I certainly do not always agree, nor in fact disagree.
When you throw out the gauntlet for rebuttals there is a reason you are not getting responses Mitch. You have on instances tended to bully back with some rather harsh comments. No one likes a bully - they especially don't want to join in on an on-line melee. So yes others do hold opinions, but would rather keep their counsel to themselves. You know the old saying - if you want the bear to visit then put out a pot of honey.
Do yourself a favour. I know it will be hard, because of who you are. Just absorb my advice and don't respond. Be humble.
By the way, some of your comments are really good. Like anything you have a range of where comments fall. Some are just down right - well you can likely guess what I am thinking. I will just keep this civil where it should be. None of us is perfect.
Up 25 Down 8
DL on Jun 9, 2022 at 2:46 pm
Putting an end NOW to the useless and harmful federal mandate for covid vaccines (for airlines and federal workers) would help to re-establish the supply chain and for much-needed increase earnings for workers.
Up 25 Down 5
DL on Jun 9, 2022 at 2:10 pm
There are ways to address this problem now. Instead of spending millions of dollars on an unnecessary new roundabout on the Alaska Highway, spend it on building infrastructure for concentrated food growing centres in the Whitehorse area. For example, hydroponic greenhouses that could be heated from ground water. These greenhouses could have additions built for preserving food, and storing food over the winter, e.g. root cellars. Etc.
Some summer students’ hiring funds could be used to have students build and install small greenhouses for every household that wants them. Offer free northern gardening courses.
These should have been done years ago, but better late than never.
Up 25 Down 3
Anonymous on Jun 9, 2022 at 1:53 pm
It's engineered, look at all of the fertilizer plants going up in flames recently. Source: I just finished The Fourth Industrial Revolution followed by Stakeholder Capitalism by Klaus Schwab of the WEF. It's all in there.
Up 27 Down 11
DL on Jun 9, 2022 at 1:18 pm
It’s only going to get worse thanks to continued insane military involvement in the Ukraine conflict, that have been initiated by NATO, of which Canada is a member, over the past 8 years. Don’t blame Russia or Putin, who are just reacting to 8 years of intense provocations and lies. Look up the Minsk agreement that NATO deliberately broke. The weapons industry is making a $$$ killing.
Blame the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” agenda of world-wide scarcity, deliberately planned a while back and implemented thanks to world leader puppets like Justin Trudeau, Joe Biden, Macron, Boris Johnson, etc . Trudeau himself is on record for parroting the same “Great Reset” and “Build Back Better” propaganda, which is in reality about a world where the common person “will own nothing”, because the elites will have grabbed it all.
Up 31 Down 6
DL on Jun 9, 2022 at 1:17 pm
Remember, problems with supply chains and inflation specifically started from covid restrictions in 2020. No, covid didn’t do this, it’s the MEASURES that governments forced on us, despite warnings from many experts the world over that these unnecessary restrictions would lead to widespread starvation and shortages. I personally could see this coming from spring 2020, and was astounded that so many people complied blindly to such absurd government edicts. Bankrupting a multitude of small businesses with forced shut-downs, printing money out of thin air for CERB, and incurring enormous debt of $ 1 trillion dollars in Canada, thanks to the Trudeau regime, will end very badly for most Canadians.
The GreatBarringtonDeclaration.org predicted this, and even the John Hopkins Institute published a recent study admitting that the covid restrictions were not helping, but may be causing more harm than good:
https://health.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2022-02-02/a-johns-hopkins-study-says-ill-founded-lockdowns-did-little-to-limit-covid-deaths
Up 17 Down 10
Mitch Holder on Jun 9, 2022 at 12:48 pm
@ Matthew - We will all be hunting Liberals by September for food.
Up 5 Down 9
Mitch Holder on Jun 9, 2022 at 12:47 pm
@ DRUM - Yeah, I realized that after the fact. Ironic that a list of potential solutions always seems to be, whereas people's patience for complaint is inexhaustible. Not speaking to you here, actually reflecting that my criticisms could have been one Comment, my suggestions another.
Up 28 Down 5
AdmiralA$$ on Jun 9, 2022 at 7:57 am
No, inflation is not caused by taxes..inflation is a tax. No the solution is not UBI that rises with inflation. Inflation is caused by our government "inflating" the money supply creating more currency to chase the same or less goods. The only solutions will be rising rates and shrinking the balance sheet. The only solution will hurt more than the problem. Something few seem to get. Best of luck, this is going to get far worse before it gets any better.
Up 30 Down 13
Matthew on Jun 9, 2022 at 7:15 am
Can't afford to eat!? It's easy, find a liberal, and eat their food!
Up 35 Down 13
bonanzajoe on Jun 8, 2022 at 9:32 pm
Like my pappy used say, Conservatives create, Liberals destroy. You leftys voted for that marxist, now eat dog food.
Up 20 Down 2
drum on Jun 8, 2022 at 8:57 pm
Mitch too long.
Up 4 Down 21
Mitch on Jun 8, 2022 at 7:37 pm
Takes one thumb to dislike something, takes a lot more to be able to articulate why. Learn to read and write. Stop being nothing but an unexpressed opinion that is no more than a liability to feed amidst food insecurity. TAKE RISKS, I do. No one gives their opinion without taking a risk, anyone can post an emoji, though it seldom does one's counterpoint justice.
Every dislike validates my opinions in the eyes of myself and others when you fail to present an axiom as to 'why you dislike it'. Your relevant points of debate are always welcome in the public sphere and the process of discourse, for those amongst us who forgot how that works. I also disliked my comment just to relate to your sense of vague unjustice that no one can explain. I hope that is inclusive enough for you, I hope you feel safe and relevant - my generousity has diminished in proportion to domestic inflation and a world that's all thumbs.
Up 24 Down 6
Jeff Bikaboom on Jun 8, 2022 at 6:44 pm
"Last year, the rate of inflation on groceries was approximately eight per cent."
Are you sure it wasn't 30 percent?
The Great Reset plan will cause pain for the populace. There will be shortages of food and energy because societal changes need to occur faster than the green technology can keep up with.
How soon until we are mandated to work from home to conserve fuel? How long until we are eating bugs and 3d printed "meat"? Has anyone noticed the Young Global Leaders devising our current situation instead of trying to prevent it?
Up 3 Down 10
Mitch on Jun 8, 2022 at 6:11 pm
I see that 3 so called "people" fell for my trap. Unidentified, unoriginal and underwhelming. To the rest of the folks in this forum, thank you for being capable members of society. Two years ago, the right was the side being anonymized and censored; at this point, the left willingly does it to itself as surely as no response is forthcoming from my alleged critics.
Up 47 Down 9
Mitch on Jun 8, 2022 at 4:46 pm
Good article. I question the validity of asserting that local ariculture can't meet our needs. Take that one up with YESAB, who would starve Yukoners to protect the environment, you know, the way that most of its' employees failed to do in their home provinces and territories before coming to mother hen us with their political inadequacy in ours.
Canada potentially may become the lifeboat and bread basket of the world, so even in the Yukon Territory, we should prepare for that possibility by radically reforming agriculture not only locally and territorially, but nationally. One need only observe this government, both YTG and the feds, to see that this is up to us alone.
Mama said it takes longer to clean up a mess than to make it. I propose this is an opportunity; Every man, woman, person, child and individual head of work performing livestock could be employed in the task of food production and environmental reclamation for the rest of their natural lives - with many further job positions to fill.
Grow hemp for pellet fuel, concrete, food (world's leading cereal crop in nutritional value), it can also be used to support watersheds, you could use it to mitigate flooding. Study whether herds such as Caribou could be helped by wild hemp crops - they grow greenbelts of hemp in Eurasia and Eastern Europe and wildlife tends to eat that bumper crop instead of their produce with no recorded ill effects. Nontheless, study is warranted I suggest. 75% of all livestock feed and bedding is imported from AB and BC when we could provide those needs locally with one crop with superior end products in nutritious feed and antimicrobial bedding, herd and foliage. I could go on... And before you scoff, present your better ideas where governments have failed for decades.
Moreover, we need territorial homesteading reform. People move here for the YUKON, not another glass faced condo and opioid addiction for the trouble of moving here. Less than 1% of Canadians produce your food domestically and their generation is dying. When we faced agricultural crisis in the pandemic, people scoffed that Mexicans were better skilled at industrial agricultural work than our country's ability to bring in Canadians to do that work. That speaks to the failure of agriculture more than the inability of the average Canadian and only serves to poignantly highlight our agricultural decline. The obvious response is to make agriculture not only appealing, but viable to this generation. We can do that here and we can exemplify small scale initiatives and build from their successes, if any. But if YTG and the federal coalition thing continue to deny this crisis, if we do nothing, we will never know if it was a waste of time. We no longer have that luxury.
My proposition. Create agricultural co-op applications and allow multiple residents to share agricultural land and maintain it. Tiny houses, on agricultural rural properties. Agriculture education at our University. Put the master gardener course online and incentivize Yukoners to take it and apply it, should they choose. 900 dollars for that course fills no bellies.
So many solutions available with a modicum of actual effort and sweat equity as opposed to equity. Farmers sometimes let their hands camp on their land for the season and as such, my proposal is an expansion on that sense of community in regards to tackling what carbon tax will not. Oh, and establish a territorial distribution network to get southern Yukon produce to the northern communities to offset the highway robbery they endure for their kids to have an apple a day, instead of missing meals in the last week of the month. I have bought reasonably priced carrots grown in Dawson the size of my arm, so you cannot tell me that adequate supply from agriculture is untenable in our warming and increasingly humid territory.
Conclusion: When the government conducts studies, perhaps stop concealing them and value public input. You would be surprised how many problems we face could be reduced, mitigated or eliminated with local food security. Again, If China renewed Loess Plateau within a generation by dying on their hands and knees in the dirt to make it so, what makes any of you think it will take any less from us? The One luxury we do have that China didn't is the luxury of foresight, aka, investment while investment is viable, not only of financing, but of proactive civil involvement.
How many trees does Trudeau have left to plant to meet his promise? Enough for every single one of us to help him out, all he has to do really, is ask nicely. Personally, I planted more trees in grade school than he has in his life and I promised no one anything. Stop being willful and stupid liabilities relying on us to rely on you and I will be happy to do so again.
And folks, this is why carbon taxation is a running joke where we are the punchline. We can accomplish more without them through volunteer service alone. If the community gardens are older than carbon tax, that should speak some logic to you.
This is an issue I could fight for for all the rest of my days. If we all fought for it, we wouldn't haven't to fight very long or very hard. I am aware of our agricultural conditions in the Yukon and their progress over time, they are difficult, not impossible. Impossible was not an option for our ancestors, it isn't for us either.
I welcome your criticisms, ideas and arguments, these are all long standing ideas in my mind and not above improvement in their own right.
To our local and territorial farmers and green thumbs, thank you for your service, please encourage others into your world, especially kids.
Up 25 Down 9
Doug Tutty on Jun 8, 2022 at 3:48 pm
The article conflates two separate issues: 1) food insecurity; 2) high inflation for essentials. Food insecurity, referenced by the 10 year anniversary of the highway washout, supply chain issues, etc., is related to supply-side problems. High inflation for essentials relates to demand-side issues. People need to eat; people need to pay for housing, may need to pay for the expenses involved in employment. The cost of essentials has gone up but income hasn't. For people on pensions, even if the pension is indexed each year to last year's inflation, it doesn't change part-way through the year. Many people on fixed income don't have enough to put any into savings to cover mid-year inflation hikes. Many on fixed income have that income cut if they do put away savings since their income is to support minimal survival. There needs to be a livable minimum wage or a minimum guaranteed income that is adjusted every 3 months based on the cost of essentials. Ultimately, if the highway gets cut, Whitehorse has a great airport and can be a fly-in community until the highway gets repaired.
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Wilf Carter on Jun 8, 2022 at 2:42 pm
Great piece Star nailed it again. Inflation is caused by carbon and other taxes by the Federal Government. With increase in food prices which will be much higher than stated here means people don't have the money to give any more. Businesses are pushed to the limit. Senior homes are going without because the increase in property tax and cost services have gone up by a lot, heating your home with oil has gone through the roof, electrical energy is way too high, trucking is out of line and going up more. With a shortage of grain in the world will drive costs up more. Let's put into fact 1,000,000's of Canadians are living a substandard life.