“One time, the coast of Labrador would be left out of things such as the pricing of food baskets to feed a family” says Marjorie Flowers.

“We are no longer grouped in with the rest of the province, as food prices here are much higher here, even than prices in Goose Bay and Lab City.”

For Marjorie, the inclusion of Labrador, and especially coastal Labrador, is just one of the changes that she’s seen since she got involved with Food First NL.

“As Team Leader for the Nunatsiavut Department of Health and Social Development, I was asked to sit on a local food security committee that was forming,” she says. “In light of the food-related challenges and increased action on food security, several communities in Nunatsiavut completed comprehensive community-led food assessments (CLFAs) through the NiKigijavut Nunatsiavutinni Project, led by Food First NL, in partnership with the regional government and local stakeholders.”

The project took a community-driven approach to CLFAs, program implementation, monitoring and evaluation, with the aim of ensuring that the project would be meaningful and relevant to the community, and that the most impactful programs would be sustained locally.

“Through this project, and with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, CLFAs were used by communities to inform strategies that aim to improve access to adequate, nutritious, and culturally-appropriate food,” says Marjorie.

Since then, the NiKigijavut Hopedalimi Committee worked to expand the community freezer program to ensure it was meeting the needs of the community and became a partner in the local cooking program. It also created a community gardening program that has since expanded to two locations, and into the backyards of residents.

“Under continued support and guidance from Food First NL, this community-based food security action has since been embedded within the Inuit Community Governments in both Hopedale and Rigolet,” says Marjorie.