North West Company to stop subsidizing food for Churchill

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This article was published 21/06/2017 (2499 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — A major food-shipping company is putting pressure on the provincial and federal governments to implement food subsidies for Churchill, saying it will stop subsidizing most of its products Sunday.

Hudson Bay Railway owner Omnitrax Canada ceased operations on the rail line to Churchill May 23 after a heavy spring melt damaged the track at multiple locations.

Since then, residents and officials have asked to join the federal food subsidy Nutrition North to offset the high cost of flying in food.

In a Wednesday evening statement, the head of the North West Company says it will stop subsidizing most items it sells.

“The suspension of rail service to Churchill is a public infrastructure failing that is being borne 100 per cent by the citizens, businesses and other organizations in Churchill. If this crisis was in a rural or urban area, action would have been taken within days,” wrote CEO Edward Kennedy.

The notice says the company has eaten the added cost of air shipments, but claims it would cost $700,000 a year in added costs for serving the community of less than 900 citizens.

“North West advised both levels of government last week that it was only prepared to keep subsidizing prices until June 25. Prices will begin to reflect air freight costs on that date,” though not on some key items like milk, according to a release from the company.

The statement comes amid confusing messages from Ottawa. A blunt email Wednesday afternoon from Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs spokeswoman Valérie Haché told the Free Press: “Churchill has not qualified for the food subsidy.”

But a top department spokesman clarified hours later the minister was looking at potential costs and needs before deciding whether to grant an emergency authorization for Churchill.

“It has not been decided yet; it has not been rejected. We are working on it,” wrote James Fitz-Morris.

The company feels that subsidies are needed immediately “which Churchill clearly now qualifies for,” and says it can’t arrange marine shipments until the fall, which would still be more expensive than rail transportation, but less than air. 

“Until the sealift arrives in October, assistance is also needed on non-perishable items. The long-term solutions may be complicated but the immediate ones are not.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca