Question Period Note: Budget 2024

Expansion and Renewal of Northern Isolated Community Initiatives

• Budget 2024 commits $14.9 million over three years, starting in 2024-25, to renew the Northern Isolated Community Initiatives (NICI) Fund in the territories and to expand it to other regions of Inuit Nunangat.
• This funding will be shared between the three RDAs responsible for regions of Inuit Nunangat – the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

• Canada’s North faces high rates of food insecurity compared to the rest of the country. Remoteness, fragile supply chains, and climate change contribute to high costs and other challenges to accessing healthy, affordable food.
• A renewed and expanded NICI program will help support local and Indigenous food production systems, which contribute to food security and community resilience in the North. Innovations fostered by the NICI program will help promote a strengthened northern food sector, enhancing local self-determination.

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