Challenges in assessing food environments in northern and remote communities in Canada

• Published in: Canadian journal of public health Vol. 107; no. S1; pp. eS60 - eS63
• Main Authors: Skinner, Kelly, Burnett, Kristin, Williams, Patricia, Martin, Debbie, Stothart, Christopher, LeBlanc, Joseph, Veeraraghavan, Gigi, Sheedy, Amanda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Canadian Public Health Association 01.01.2016; Springer International Publishing; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Canada; COMMENTARY; Commerce - statistics & numerical data; Community; Costs and Cost Analysis; Food; Food - economics; Food quality; Food services; Food Supply; Health aspects; Humans; Indians, North American; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Native North Americans; Northern communities; Nutrition research; Public Health; Rural Population; Social aspects; Canada; ANW, Canada; First Nations; food supply; rural population; analyse des coûts; population rurale; Premières Nations; approvisionnement en nourriture; cost analysis
• ISSN: 0008-4263; 1920-7476
• DOI: 10.17269/CJPH.107.5324

Effective tools for retail food environments in northern and remote communities are lacking. This paper examines the challenges of conducting food environment assessments in northern and remote communities in Canada encountered during our experience with a food costing project. One of the goals of the Paying for Nutrition in the North project is to develop guidelines to improve current food costing tools for northern Canada. Paying for Nutrition illustrates the complex context of measuring food environments in northern and remote communities. Through the development of a food costing methodology guide to assess northern food environments, several contextual issues emerged, including retail store oligopolies in communities; the importance of assessing food quality; informal social food economies; and the challenge of costing the acquisition and consumption of land- and water-based foods. Food environment measures designed for northern and remote communities need to reflect the geographic context in which they are being employed and must include input from local residents.