Nunavut’s Hunger Problem: One Year Later

For more than a year, Israel Mablick has been staving off his hunger by drinking tea so that his kids can eat.

“I still starve myself daily”, says Israel, a 36-year-old Inuit father of 5, whose story was first shared in a 2015 CBC News article highlighting the widespread hunger and food insecurity problem in Nunavut.

Israel’s “dietary solution” may seem extreme to many Southerners, but they simply do not understand the daily reality for many parents and families in Nunavut who are living on modest- and low-incomes. He chooses to forgo his own meals so that he can feed the other 9 mouths in his home: his wife and 5 children, his nephew, his mother, and the most recent addition to the home, his younger brother.

Since the publication, little seems to have changed for Israel – except for the drastic weight loss (that he ignores); his wife working full-time; and his staying home to take care of his youngest child, while his brother helps out with the children when they come home from school. Despite these new work arrangements, the high cost associated with hunting for country food, and the high price of store-bought groceries, continue to limit his family’s access to food. So Israel drinks tea instead of eating. And although he no longer bothers to measure how much weight he has lost, he knows that it’s close to 50 lbs. In a territory where 60% of children live in food insecure households, and 76% of severely food insecure children regularly skip meals, Israel is doing what he can for his own kids while they all wait for a better, long-term solution to the hunger problem. He believes that “the outcome is hard to predict but if we all (not just government but all, including business, Inuit organizations, and people) could all pitch in to make a difference then it would be, but we all know this is an on-going situation”. Today, Israel believes that education is key to helping him and his family to become more food secure. He’s focusing less on his weight loss and more on ensuring that his children get their education and “do better than me in life.”

Join Feeding My Family’s letter writing campaign to ask your Member or Parliament to find long term solutions to hunger and food insecurity in Canada’s north.