Published 4:50 am Monday, December 1, 2025 By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Northern News Services The Hamlet of Kugluktuk has opened an emergency food bank courtesy of funding from the Nunavut Food Security Coalition and Food Bank Canada, senior administrative officer Kevin Niptanatiak said. On Nov. 19, the hamlet registered 89 community members for the emergency food bank, a service which Niptanatiak said can feed a total of 250 residents. Until March of this year, the Inuit Child First Initiative fed over 550 Kugluktuk residents, he said. “The reason we wanted to open the food bank was to give help to people with food security that did not have enough to fill those gaps but also struggle to put food on the table,” Niptanatiak said. Every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon at the back door of the youth centre, Kugluktuk residents can access free food, and more registration spots are available. Flour, rice, baking powder, lard, cereal, oats, milk, canned meat, pasta, pasta sauce, Kraft dinner, sugar, soups, mashed potatoes, and pancake mix are available through the food bank. “I would like to see the GN work with Food Bank Canada and different agencies, Canadian North Cargo, and other airlines to get food brought up to the North, so people can afford to buy more groceries without worrying,” Niptanatiak said. He also asked that the new territorial government to ensure subsidies like Nutrition North are bringing down the cost of groceries.
Kugluktuk emergency food bank will serve up to 250 residents
