Would you pay $40 for a bag of flour? Some remote First Nations in northern Ontario have no choice

Food costs are going up everywhere, but in remote First Nations communities, sticker shock at the store is the norm.

In at least one community, Marten Falls First Nation, there isn't even a store for in-person shopping. 

In Neskantaga First Nation, about 436 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont., Chief Wayne Moonias said people are paying between $40 and $70 for a 10-kilogram bag of flour and upwards of $30 for sugar.

That means making a traditional staple like bannock becomes a luxury not everyone in the Ojibway First Nation can afford.

On Thursday, the federal government promised to spend $4.5 million on Matawa First Nations Management's Harvesters Support Program to help fight food insecurity faced by remote communities in northwestern Ontario. 

The money comes from Nutrition North Canada and is being distributed over 18 months to:

Co-ordinators will be hired in each community, tasked with deciding how to best use the funds based on each First Nation's needs.

"It allows that flexibility," said David Neegan, executive director of Matawa's Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services program. "It's not a cookie-cutter approach … it's based on what the communities' needs are."

For example, he said, there is currently no community store open in Marten Falls First Nation. So if someone runs out of essentials — like milk, eggs, meat, diapers or formula — they'd have to wait until the next plane arrives and be prepared for high costs further inflated by shipping fees. 

With the Harvesters Support Program, though, subsidies can be provided to help make these prices more manageable.

There is also a push to improve communities' access to traditional foods through hunting, harvesting and food sharing, another area where the funding can be utilized.

The hope is the program is continually expanded, but that's up to the federal government, Neegan said.

Indigenous people living in Canada experience food insecurity — defined as a lack of regular access to safe, nutritious food — at higher rates than non-Indigenous people.

A 2018 national survey by the First Nations Information Governance Centre found over half of Indigenous households experience food insecurity. According to research from the University of Toronto, just one in eight Canadian households overall suffers from food insecurity.