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 in July of 2023. By December 2024, all but one community in Nunavut received funding for Hamlet Food Voucher Programs. These programs provide $500 per child for groceries and an additional $250 for diapers for children under four years old.
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 and funded by Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), 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.
Research Team: Vandna Sinha, University of Colorado, Boulder, School of Education | Sindu Govindapillai, Arctic Children and Youth Foundation | Mohammed Khan, University of Manitoba, Faculty of Social Work | Jessica Penney, Toronto Metropolitan University, Department of Sociology | Josée Lavoie, University of Manitoba, Max Rady College of Medicine, Community Health Sciences | Nicholas Li, Toronto Metropolitan University, Department of Economics | David Wheatley, Laurier University, Lazaridis School of Business & Economics | Tracey Galloway, University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology | Kelly Mitchell, University of Colorado, Boulder, School of Education | Dheeksha Reddy, Arctic Children and Youth Foundation |
Advisory Committee: Opal McInnis, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated | Rachel Blais, Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre (former e.d.) | Adam Arreak Lightstone, Legislative Assembly | Emesong Njabnjem, Department of Child and Family Services | Arielle Stockdale, Department of Education | Ekua Agyemang, Department of Health
Publications
Sinha, Li, Penney, Wheatley (2025) Inuit Children in Nunavut Face a Preventable Food Security Crisis. The Conversation (Canada).