$28 for cabbage, $65 for a pound of chicken, in Northern Canada

[Vale46Rossi]

Nunavut is the edge of the world in a lot of ways — it’s the farthest-north part of Canada, a broken-up spray of frozen land coming off the top of the country like a very icy mohawk. In terms of land mass, it’s bigger than any other Canadian province or territory, with an area the size of Western Europe, but its population (mostly Inuit) is smaller than Berkeley’s — and I mean the university, not the town.

So it’s remote, and cold, and sparsely settled, but none of that really explains why food is so outrageously expensive that the basic necessities of life are beyond normal people’s reach. Now, the locals are starting to get fed up (not literally, because they can’t afford it), and they’re agitating for government attention to their unsustainable cost of living. Cabbage that costs $28? Chicken for $65 a pound? They’re having Nunavut. (Sorry.) (Not sorry.)

Below are some photos of real food and water prices from the “Feeding Our Families” Facebook group. Canadian dollars and American dollars are basically the same now, so there’s no need to do complicated monetary conversions to figure out how staggering this is. It’s as staggering as you think.









$28 cabbage, $65 chicken, and other insane food prices in Northern Canada | Grist



wow

[TOS'd]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking, B1?

[FerrariEnzo]

WTF.. $104 for WATER!! cant they just melt the snow and drink it??

[asahai69]

time to hunt some whale

[tiger_handheld]

is cost of shipping that expensive?

[TRDood]

2012 zombie prices?

[xilley]

so.. if we were to bring stuff over is that going to profit?

[Slifer]

How do the people afford to live there? And why don't they move the fuck outta that shithole?

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

is cost of shipping that expensive?

Yes.

Actually, its expensive, and then even more expensive because you need to pay them to drive home too.

Here, we pay for a trailer load to go to California, and then, in California, they pick up a load to go either elsewhere, or back to Vancouver.

In Nunuvut, there would be very little return loads, so you'd have to pay them enough to cover them driving an empty load to whatever nearest place would have materials in need of transport.

[PiuYi]

how does this surprise anyone?

its fucking Iqaluit, aka buttfuck nowhere! shipping things thousands of miles to a remote little town is obviously gonna be expensive, especially fresh fruit and meat or things with short shelf-life

not sure i'd support subsidizing their way of life... although having a few people up there permanently backs up our sovereignty there

[Lomac]

I might be wrong but I thought Iqaluit had no roads leading in or out, and had only an airport to access the outside world?

[2damaxmr2]

^ That is correct.

[gars]

Originally Posted by Gridlock

Yes.

Actually, its expensive, and then even more expensive because you need to pay them to drive home too.

Here, we pay for a trailer load to go to California, and then, in California, they pick up a load to go either elsewhere, or back to Vancouver.

In Nunuvut, there would be very little return loads, so you'd have to pay them enough to cover them driving an empty load to whatever nearest place would have materials in need of transport.

Actually, many parts - in the summer months, the ground is so unstable and roads suck - that most things get flown in. Funnily enough, in the winter, you can truck everything in because the rivers are frozen over and the trucks just drive on top of them.

Stuff is still expensive in the winter, but it's cheaper than in the summer months.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by gars

Actually, many parts - in the summer months, the ground is so unstable and roads suck - that most things get flown in. Funnily enough, in the winter, you can truck everything in because the rivers are frozen over and the trucks just drive on top of them.

Stuff is still expensive in the winter, but it's cheaper than in the summer months.

Shit, yeah, didn't even think of that.

[StylinRed]

they can fly the groceries up for less than that


and as the article said after some protesting outside stores the stores more than halved many of their prices

Nunavut residents protested outside their local stores on Saturday, and some are reporting price changes as stores have been shamed into cutting back on their price gouging — at least temporarily. One resident reports on Facebook: “Bought an avocado for 1.99,(was 5.99 for one) green onions 2.19, cranberry juice 4.99 from 18.99.” We’ll see how long that lasts.

[urrh]

brutal. what do they eat if simple things like lettuce and water are priced to the stratosphere...

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by urrh

brutal. what do they eat if simple things like lettuce and water are priced to the stratosphere...

Traditional Inuit diets are 98%+ meat like cariboo, seal, whale. Hunting was and is necessary for sustenance in the north; diets have changed a bit with the changes in global society, but remain very high in meat.

[Akinari]

Fill tanker up with water
Drive to Nunavut
???
PROFIT

[nns]

I wonder how much alcohol is up there? Maybe there isn't any, or not much of it.

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by nns

I wonder how much alcohol is up there? Maybe there isn't any, or not much of it.

Alcohol is prohibited in much of the North. The brutality of the winters is so hard on people, alcohol becomes a dangerous thing to have on hand.

[Santofu]

If their food price is expensive, i'm assuming that their housing price are hella cheap?

[twitchyzero]

so are their groceries rising with the cost of inflation? I know it was always ridiculous but can't remember if it was that ridiculous.

[AzNightmare]

Originally Posted by StevenDuang

What's up with these dates?? Is the date on the camera incorrect?
Or do they have really long lasting Cabbage??

[rsx]

I wonder if airships (blimps) would be an efficient way of sending food to these remote locations...

[m!chael]

.