True north, strong and free? $100 flats of bottled water in Nunavut

June 27, 2012- True north, strong and free? $100 flats of bottled water in Nunavut

Derek-source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/op-ed/people+make+country+whole/6850462/story.html

All Photo's /references/sources attached here.
http://alturl.com/g8rvt

"Ask Canadians some simple questions about life in the Arctic, as Canada's national Inuit organization did in 2009, and one-third of us flunk completely, while more than half confess ignorance. True north, strong and free? We had better take your word for it.

Hence the recent sticker shock, south of 60, at Nunavut's staggering cost of living.

On National Aboriginal Day, last Thursday, Nunavummiut gathered outside grocery stores in Iqaluit, Pangnirtung, Coral Harbour, Clyde River, and Kugluktuk to protest $20 heads of cabbage and $100 flats of bottled water. The recent wave of demonstrations began with a single Facebook group, "Feeding My Family," started by Iqaluit resident Leesee Papatsie. It has now grown to well over 20,000 members, and generated global buzz about high food prices in Nunavut communities.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/239422122837039/

But what is a curiosity around the world's water coolers is a crisis in northern Canada, where hunger is too often a daily reality.

Nor is the issue simply the cost of store-bought food. The high price of gas and equipment has made hunting too expensive for many Northerners, pushing nutritious country foods, such as caribou and seal, out of reach. And as communities struggle to feed themselves, they are buffeted by bluster from environmental groups, legislators, and various rock stars, whose attacks on the traditional Inuit way of life are perhaps better intentioned than they are informed."