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Almost half of Nunavut homes battle food insecurity, survey shows

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Abluqta Society president Joseph Arnasungaaq and former Thrift Store manager Sharon Alerk display the original food bank donations the society received in May of 2018. Photo courtesy Erin Strachan

Close to half of Nunavut households categorized themselves as moderately or severely food insecure in a national survey, according to Statistic Canada data released on Tuesday.

Abluqta Society president Joseph Arnasungaaq and former Thrift Store manager Sharon Alerk display the original food bank donations the society received in May of 2018. Photo courtesy Erin Strachan
With nearly half of Nunavut homes struggling to obtain enough to eat, food banks like this one in Baker Lake are an essential life line. Photo courtesy Erin Strachan

While 50.6 per cent of Nunavut respondents to the Canadian Community Health Survey in 2017-18 reported that they had enough nutritious food on hand, 25.7 per cent in the territory classified themselves as moderately food insecure and the remaining 23.7 per cent listed themselves as severely food insecure.

Nationally, 91.3 per cent of households stated that they had a sufficient quantity of food. Moderately food insecure homes across Canada amounted to 5.3 per cent while severely food insecure residences came in at three per cent.