An Impact Assessment of Grocery Supports in Nunavut

About The Inuit Child First Initiative (ICFI) Hamlet Food Voucher & Grocery Supports Evaluation (2023-Present):

The ICFI, launched in 2018, is a temporary measure to help families access essential services while an Inuit-specific framework is being developed. It parallels Jordan’s Principle, which is designed to meet the needs of First Nations children.

In Nunavut, where 79% of Inuit children (ages 1-14) experienced food insecurity in 2022, support to access food has been the most common request to ICFI. Initially, each family had to submit extensive documentation with requests for grocery supports, and they often faced months-long delays before receiving supports. To more efficiently meet the needs of Inuit children, Nunavut hamlets began to request, and receive, ICFI funding for nutrition supports for all Inuit children in the community. By December 2024, all but one community in Nunavut received funding for Hamlet Food Voucher Programs. These programs provided $500 per child for groceries and an additional $250 for diapers for children under four years old.  The program was discontinued in March of 2025.

Our multidisciplinary, mixed methods study started as an evaluation of individual requests for grocery supports in Qikiqtaaluk and evolved as the Hamlet Food Voucher Programs came into place. The study, which is led by Qupanuaq, funded by Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) and the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation (ACYF), and guided by a Nunavut Advisory Committee, brings together researchers from Qupanuaq and the University of Colorado (Boulder), Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Manitoba, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Toronto.

The research design includes key informant and family interviews, as well as analysis of data on purchases with grocery supports and outcome data (e.g. receipt of income supports, health outcomes, and school attendance). The introduction of the hamlet voucher program at different times across hamlets in Qikiqtaaluk results in a natural experimental design in which, at any point in time, we can compare outcomes in those communities that already implemented the hamlet food voucher program to those that had not yet implemented the program.

The team has issued a preliminary report, presented at a 2025 ArcticNet panel, and continues to provide evidenced-based academic perspectives and advocacy through local and national media amidst an ongoing food security crisis in the North and Federal inaction.

Click here to visit the project website. (external link, opens in new window)