Aluki Kotierk appointed to perform external review of food subsidy program; report was due 3 weeks ago
Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand says she hasn’t heard from Aluki Kotierk, three weeks after the deadline passed for Kotierk to submit her review of the Nutrition North program.
Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand, shown speaking in Iqaluit Wednesday, says she has not seen the results of external review of Nutrition North which was due more than three weeks ago. (Photo by Daron Letts)
Chartrand should have tried New York.
Kotierk was in the Big Apple on Wednesday, chairing a United Nations forum on Indigenous issues.
“Our office has reached out to Aluki Kotierk but has not heard back to date,” Chartrand said in a phone interview Wednesday from Iqaluit, where she announced federal spending on infrastructure and Arctic security.
Even without the review, Chartrand noted, “We have carried out a number of regional engagements that I led myself. Which led into a national summit.”
Last month, the federal government hosted the first Food Sovereignty Summit in Ottawa.
“We were quite committed to hearing from communities directly and those that are most impacted by food and insecurity,” Chartrand said.
At a news conference during the summit, Chartrand said the “deliverables” in Kotierk’s review were due March 31. That deadline came and went.
So far, the department has paid out Kotierk’s invoice for $15,000 in expenses, Chartrand’s press secretary Erika Lashbrook Knutson said in an email Wednesday.
“Any questions related to compensation should be directed to Ms. Kotierk directly,” she added.
Nunatsiaq News has tried numerous times, including Wednesday, to reach Kotierk by phone and Facebook messenger but she has not responded.
Several times over the past two weeks, Nunatsiaq News has asked the Department of Northern Affairs how much money was budgeted for Kotierk’s review.
Last week, spokesperson Jacinthe Goulet said, “The budget will depend on the costs incurred during the review.”
Chartrand was asked again Wednesday.
“That is not information that I have at hand,” she said. “Accountability of funds is important to me. If we do not receive a written report, we will be looking further into this matter.”
Kotierk was recently appointed chair of the United Nations’ Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She was in New York City on Wednesday presiding over the 25th session of the forum.
When asked whether she knew Kotierk was at the UN, Chartrand said: “I am aware.”
The Nutrition North program, created in 2011, subsidizes the high cost of nutritious food and other essentials in 124 northern communities.
Over the years, the program has been widely criticized as inadequate for the needs of the people it serves and that it isn’t leading to the lower prices for shoppers that it was intended to.
In response to mounting pressure, the federal government announced an external review of the program in October 2024. Kotierk was appointed to oversee the review by then-northern affairs minister Gary Anandasangaree in February 2025.
Chartrand was asked when northern residents would learn about reforms to Nutrition North. “I would say soon. It is a priority for me, as minister, so I would like to move the project along as soon as possible.”