Spatial Knowledge and Information Canada, 2019, 7(1), 2 Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System YANJUAN LI1, DAVID NATCHER2, JINGTING LEI3, WEIPING ZENG4, YANPING LI5, LIFANG LEI6, XIAOLEI YU7, MARCIA CRAIG4, SCOTT BELL7 1Electrical and Computer Engineering, yal303@mail.usask.ca, 2Agricultural and Resource Economics, david.natcher@usask.ca, 3Plant Sciences, 4The Spatial Initiative, wez948@mail.usask.ca, 5Edwards School of Business, 6Mechanical Engineering, 7Geography and Planning, scott.bell@usask.ca, University of Saskatchewan, Canada generally include moose, caribou, small ABSTRACT mammals, fish, birds, plants and berries. While these foods continue to make Many First Nation communities in the important contributions to the well-being of Canadian experiences the issue of poor food Aboriginal peoples, Arctic communities are security. Therefore, it is important to study being challenged to satisfy their daily food the current condition of the food acquiring needs. The causal factors most often and supplying network in this region. In this attributed to food insecurity within arctic project, a geographic information system communities include changing dietary (GIS) was used to investigate the Canadian preferences within Aboriginal populations, Arctic food system. Meanwhile, a Canadian changes in the physical environment, cost Arctic food geodatabase was developed that and limited household incomes, changing includes types of foods, key food producers, employment patterns, resource extraction, market destinations, and food industry and climate change (Lambden et al., 2006; policies. Principles of GIS and Web GIS Natcher et al., 2016). were used to visualize and analyze data. The results show that a more sustainable food Food cost and availability have proven to be system is needed in the Canadian Arctic. a challenge of achieving food security in northern Canada. Many Inuit families have 1. Introduction difficulty accessing nutritional food due to high food prices. In Nunavut, a kilo of celery costs about $10. A food basket that would The Canadian Arctic is burdened by high provide a nutritious diet for a family of four rates of food insecurity (CCA, 2014). Despite for one week costs roughly $350-$450 in producing foods for international markets, northern communities, while the same arctic communities struggle to maintain a basket costs only $195-$225 in southern sustainable and nutritional food system. Canada (CCA, 2014). Yet even at these high prices, the quality of perishable foods is As defined by the Canadian Constitution often compromised due to lengthy (1982), Aboriginal peoples in Canada transportation distances and frequent include First Nation, Metis and Inuit. The delays in delivery times to the point of traditional economies of Canada’s limiting consumer acceptability. Because of Aboriginal peoples were based largely on these constraints (cost, quality, and the procurement of foods harvested from acceptability), perishable foods are often the ‘land’. These foods vary by region but replaced by non-perishable and highly 2 Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System processed foods that lack equivalent Arctic foods to those northern communities nutritional value (Chen and Natcher, 2018). most in need. All of the aforementioned problems have led to hunger and poor nutrition for many 2. Data and Methods northerners (CCA, 2014; NAHO, 2004; Boult et al., 2004). The Canadian Arctic consists of the three To address food insecurity in the Arctic, the Government of Canada launched Nutrition North Canada (NNC) in 2011 to help facilitate greater access healthy food to isolated northern communities. Through transportation subsidies, NNC works with retailers across the north and food suppliers in southern Canada to make foods more affordable and more accessible to northern residents. The NNC program spends approximately $68 million per year to provide subsidies directly to registered northern retailers, southern suppliers, and distributors in an effort to reduce food prices (NNC, 2016). NNC has succeeded in reducing food prices on eligible items, for example diary, frozen and processed meats, along with select fruits and vegetables. As a Figure 1 Canadian Arctic and Boundaries Subarctic result of the NNC program, the cost of a territorial administrative regions (Yukon, food basket for a family of four has on Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) north average been reduced by 5%, or $94 each of 60o latitude, the region of Nunavik, north month between 2011 and 2015. of 55o in the province of Quebec, and the Notwithstanding this positive outcome, food insecurity remains ever so present in most Inuit settlement region of Nunatsiavut northern communities. These conditions within Labrador; the study area covers persist despite the Arctic producing and 3,921,739km2 (Error! Reference source exporting significant volumes of nutritional not found.). Because Statistics Canada and culturally compatible foods (e.g., Arctic classifies import and export data from the Charr, seal). These foods are being exported Canadian Arctic by province and territory, for international markets yet make virtually the study area in this report includes the no contribution to the northern food value three territories and two provinces chain. (Newfoundland and Labrador). It was with this imbalance in mind that we Two categories of data were explored to used GIS and Web GIS to develop a construct the Canadian Arctic food Canadian Arctic food geodatabase to geodatabase and to provide spatial analyses: analyze and visualize Canadian Arctic food (1) Canadian Arctic Food data, including the data. The geodatabase, maps, and Canadian International Merchandise Trade interactive online maps we deployed can (CIMT) database; an Internet search for help decision makers and northern Canadian Arctic food productions; seal and residents to comprehend characteristics of seal products information from Nutrition the Arctic food system. Our results show North Canada (NNC); an annual report that a more sustainable food system may be from the Government of Canada and (2) achieved by redirecting the current export of Geospatial data, including Geocoder Canada; the GeoGratis Database; and other Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System 3 open source GIS layers and imagery. data, we focused on six countries besides Canada for the Arctic region, including Details of data sources and of data the U.S. (State of Alaska only), Sweden, preprocessing are described below: Finland, Norway, Iceland, and 1) Weights and values of food exported Denmark. from the Canadian Arctic from 1988- 2017 were extracted from the CIMT The Canadian Arctic food data and GIS data database through the Statistics Canada were in different formats and from different website. Data from the CIMT database sources. Therefore, the following five steps concerning export destinations and food were taken: (1) Microsoft Excel and R quantities and values were geocoded language was used to clean, organize, using a virtual geocode finder analyze, and integrate the original data as (https://geocoder.ca/). In cases where tabular data; (2) ArcGIS catalog was applied the geocoder was not applicable, the to develop a Canadian Arctic food coordinates of export destinations were geodatabase, along with other geospatial collected using Google Maps. Geospatial data; (3) Data analysis was performed by data were then mapped using ArcGIS. combining Excel and ArcMap (4) For the Online maps showing export products, online map, we imported the Canadian export destinations, food quantities, and Arctic food database into the PostgreSQL food values were created using Web GIS server and used PHP and Mapbox to create technology (i.e., JavaScript and PHP a Web GIS system languages). (http://webgis.usask.ca/Arcticfood/) to 2) Online internet searches (December interactively map the value and export 2016 to May 2017) related to food destinations from the Canadian Arctic; (5) A products and food production in the technical document was prepared for Canadian Arctic. These searches focused policy makers and northern residents. on food resources, commercial food production, and food subsidies that The Canadian Arctic food geodatabase address food insecurity in the Canadian includes the types of food harvested in the Arctic and were performed by using the Canadian Arctic along with trends in Google Search Engine. We collected harvesting, key Arctic producers, the information about populations, food exported weight and value of food systems, harvest levels, the originating from the Canadian Arctic, commercialization of foods, and related common challenges in the challenges such as governance of the commercialization of Arctic foods. Other fisheries (e.g. quotas that regulate the related details, such as the Nutrition North harvests of Arctic foods). Other Canada program and industrial policies, is information includes food processing, also included in the geodatabase. infrastructure, and relative contributions of food processors were 3. Results also collected and analyzed to examine employment opportunities in northern The Canadian Arctic Food geodatabase and communities. the Web GIS system include tables, charts, 3) The basic GIS layers, including PDF maps, and online maps, to help policy boundaries (provincial, territory, and, makers and northern residents visualize the administrative) came from the Statistics current status of local food resources and Canada 2016 Census of geospatial the pathways of Arctic food production and products. distribution. 4) International food trade data were taken from the websites of corresponding 3.1 Tables and Charts countries. Due to the accessibility of 4 Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System The Canadian Arctic food database includes tables and charts with descriptions. Below are several examples. Error! Reference source not found. shows that exports from the Canadian Arctic increased in value while decreasing in Figure 2 Total values and quantity of Canadian Arctic food exports (1988-2016) Figure 5 Weight of nutritious perishable and Figure 3 Top five import countries for nonperishable products subsidized per retailer or Canadian Arctic Food Figure 5 shows the locations supplier from 2014oftosuppliers 2015 of weight from 2013 to 2016. subsidized food in the Canadian Arctic and Figure 3 shows the top five countries that the weight of subsidies supplied by each imported Canadian Arctic food from 1988 to retailer from 2014 to 2015. Nunavut 2017. In the late 1980s the United States received the highest value of subsidies was the highest seafood importer, but its through the NNC program, followed by imports decreased considerably by the mid- Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. 1990s. China, the second highest importer, imported very little before 2000, but its imports increased substantially from the early 2000s. Russia imported a very small weight of seafood during the 1990s, but increased seafood imports from 2005 to 2008. Figure 4 shows seafood exported from the Canadian Arctic from 1988 to 2017. 3.2 Geospatial Visualizations The Canadian Arctic food database includes many maps. Below are several examples. Figure 6 Seafood exported from the Canadian in 2016 Figure 6 shows that in 2016, the two largest destinations for exports of Canadian Arctic fish, crustaceans, and molluscs were the United States of America and China. Figure 4 Seafood by category exported from the Canadian Arctic from 1988 to 2017 Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System 5 Figure 7 is a map of key Arctic food producers. The main product categories are Figure 8 shows seal and seal products fish, shrimp, muskox, caribou, crab, egg, exported from the Canadian Arctic from and muktuk (whale meat). Different 2004 to 2010. The chart and the table are symbols represent different categories of integrated into this map in order to facilitate food products in the Canadian Arctic region. the understanding the seal trade around These symbols are more attractive and world. welcoming by the local people as well as the administration executives. Figure 7 Locations of key Arctic food producers (symbols were shifted to avoid the overlap) Figure 8 International exports of Canada’s seal and seal products (2004-2010) (the curves do not represent the real ship routes) 6 Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System 3.3 Web GIS System Currently the Web GIS system at http://webgis.usask.ca/Arcticfood/ contains food export data from the Canadian Arctic, five other countries, and one region: Alaska, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. More countries and regional data will be available in the future. Figure 9 Trader, product and year The interactive online map allows a user to select an arctic food category (e.g., fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic invertebrates), and a year from 1988 to 2017 (Figure 9). When the map button is clicked, an animated map will show the flow details based on the selection (Figure 11). When you hover over a destination, an information window will pop up to show the specific export information for the country (Figure 10) Figure 10 Popup information window Figure 11 Animated destination flow map showing fish exported from the Canadian Arctic in 2017 Using GIS and Web GIS to Visualize the Canadian Arctic Food System 7 4. Conclusion where a greater proportion of northern foods are produced and made available to It is widely agreed that the Canadian Arctic satisfy northern food needs. community faces acute food shortages. As there are limited food processing facilities Acknowledgements available in the north, the Arctic community Funding for this research was provided by must buy food originating in the south, the Canadian Circumpolar Affairs entailing high shipment costs. This study Directorate and Crown-Indigenous used GIS and Web GIS to investigate the Relations and Northern Affairs. We Canadian Arctic food system. We developed gratefully acknowledge the support a Canadian Arctic food geodatabase and a provided by the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Web GIS system to help policy makers and Development Working Group. The authors Northern residents visualize the current also thank the DFO, Central Divisions, and status of local food resources and the the computer programmers and technical pathways of Arctic food production and staff at the Spatial Initiative, the Social distribution. Our results suggest that the Sciences Research Laboratories (SSRL), and current commercial food system in the University of Saskatchewan. Canadian Arctic is failing to meet the economic and nutritional needs of northern References residents. While NNC has succeeded at making nutritional foods more accessible to northern residents, food insecurity Boult, D. A. (2004). Hunger in the Arctic: continues to be experienced by a large Food (In) Security in Inuit percentage of Aboriginal households. 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