Northern Healthy Foods Initiative

The Northern Healthy Foods Initiative’s (NHFI) vision is for people to define their own food systems to access healthy foods in northern Manitoba. Our goals are:

  1. to increase food security efforts at the community level
  2. to strengthen community-led development

NHFI supports local and regional projects that contribute to the development of culturally relevant, healthy food systems, while improving health and well-being. NHFI’s role is to increase access to food by working with communities and coordinating efforts aligned with the program's goals and objectives. Our strategic priorities are to:

  1. Strengthen strategic partnerships and collaborative efforts to support local food production and access. Partnerships are intended to increase community access to resources and opportunities, build on community development efforts, facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experiences and reflect the uniqueness of communities.
  2. Enhance support for local efforts, including strengthening community-led approaches that reflect cultural values.

NHFI is administered and managed by Manitoba Indigenous and Northern Relations and receives assistance and guidance with overseeing the initiative from the NHFI Management Committee. This committee is comprised of representatives from various Manitoba government departments and agencies, including:

Service Delivery Model

Food security projects are being delivered in northern and remote communities by community-based organizations known as NHFI partners. These include:

In addition to the regional partners, the initiative works closely with Frontier School Division to implement a plant, food science and nutrition curriculum called Our Learning Garden. You can visit the FSD – Our Learning Garden website to learn more about the curriculum.

Communities in the North

The initiative targets communities in over 80 per cent of the province. These communities include First Nations, Indigenous and Northern Relations communities and northern municipalities. You can find a full list in the Northern Food Prices Report and you can find a map that defines NHFI eligibility here.

Integral Partnerships

Partnerships and linkages with non government organizations are essential to the success of the initiative. Examples of these include:

Affordable Food in Remote Manitoba (AFFIRM)

AFFIRM reduces the price of milk, fresh vegetables and fresh fruits in eligible remote northern communities through a subsidy. The subsidy is provided to participating stores and each store is required to pass on the full subsidy to the customer by reducing the sale price of milk, fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. For more information, visit http://www.gov.mb.ca/healthyliving/hlp/nutrition/affirm/index.html.

Indigenous Procurement Initiative

The objective of the Indigenous Procurement Initiative is to increase the participation of Indigenous peoples and suppliers in providing goods and services to the Manitoba Government. To that end, Manitoba Procurement Services Branch has introduced an Indigenous Procurement Initiative (IPI) to increase the participation of Indigenous businesses in providing goods and services to government. Please visit: www.gov.mb.ca/finance/psb/api/ab_proc.html.

General Contact

Northern Healthy Foods Initiative
Manitoba Indigenous and Northern Relations
400 – 352 Donald Street
Winnipeg, MB | R3B 3H8
Phone: 204-945-2490