Food Security in the Northwest Territories: A Market Competition Evaluation

• Main Author: Pilling, Russell
• Other Authors: Fellows, Kent
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Graduate Studies 2022
• Subjects: Northwest Territories
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1880/117716; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/42559

In this capstone project, I examine food prices in the Northwest Territories (NWT) through a competition lens and make policy suggestions to improve Northern food security based on the findings. I primarily focus on assessing food prices through retail food competition, and secondarily on harvesting as a food source. Harvesting is important to include as it affects food security (and market competition) but is less easily captured by economic data. Despite examination through a competition lens, I find that remoteness, and thereby shipping costs, play a dominant role in NWT food prices. The number of food stores in a community plays an insignificant role (statistically and in effect) compared to remoteness. Harvesting supports appear to be a helpful policy option to pursue; however, further evaluation is needed to assess trade-offs and to target policies to specific demographics and communities.