Southerners adopt-a-family in Nunavut
Facebook group calls on southern sponsors to help struggling families
CBC News
Posted: Jun 15, 2012 4:11 PM CT
Last Updated: Jun 16, 2012 9:14 AM CT
Demonstrators protested the high cost of food in Iqaluit last week. (Jane Sponagle/CBC)
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People who marched in Nunavut last week to protest the high cost of living have garnered international attention.
Sarah Cramer, a stay-at-home mom in Reno, Nevada, heard news stories about the food protests and wanted to do something about it.
Cramer started a Facebook group called Nunavut Adopt a Family.
According to the page, the purpose of the group is to help families in need by matching them with southern sponsors who will send things like diapers, clothes and healthy food.
The group already has more than 400 members and Cramer said 14 families in Nunavut have signed up to receive help.
However, an Iqaluit-based activist Aaju Peter said that charity is not a long-term solution and notes that problem-solving and resourcefulness is an Inuit principle in Nunavut.
"We cannot leave the situation individually or as a territory to somebody else. It is our problem nationally and we need to start pushing for change and we all need to take the responsibility," Peter said.
The Facebook group is targeting families with babies and young children, as well as single mothers and the elderly. It says providing families with the basics will help them budget for household staples that are more costly to ship north.
The issue of food prices has drawn more attention in recent weeks since the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food released a preliminary report that said First Nations and Inuit have limited access to healthy, affordable food. Demonstrations were held in several Nunavut communities on Saturday, June 9. Protesters called on stores to lower prices and for the government to step in.
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