Climate change impacts food prices in northern Ontario: Yale Climate Connections

Transcript:

Shipping food to the remote Indigenous community of Moose Factory, Ontario, is not easy.

The community is on a small island in the Moose River near James Bay. In the summer, food usually arrives by boat, and in the winter on trucks that drive on the ice.

But during parts of the spring and fall, the island is only accessible by helicopter.

Chum: “So the fall time is when the freeze-up is happening, and the springtime is when the ice is breaking.”

Anthony Chum lives in Moose Factory and works for the Moose Cree First Nation.

He says flying food in is expensive. And as the climate warms, the times when it’s needed are getting longer and less predictable.

Chum: “The ice isn’t in as early as it used to be and it’s out faster.”

He says less reliable ice also makes it harder for people to get to their hunting grounds.

So to increase access to locally produced food, Chum helps residents grow some of their own. His team has helped about 40 households build garden beds to grow potatoes, carrots, and other foods, some of which can last into fall and winter.

It won’t solve all the problems, but it’s a step toward providing more reliable access to affordable food for the residents of Moose Factory.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media