Northern Isolated Community Initiatives (NICI) Fund

Part of the QEDP

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The food sector in Canada’s North has significant economic growth potential offering opportunities for increased local production, job creation, and sustainable development to the benefit of northern and Indigenous communities.

The Northern Isolated Community Initiatives (NICI) Fund supports current and new food initiatives that strengthen and diversify economic activity in the North. In Quebec, the targeted territory is Nunavik.

As part of the Food Policy for Canada, the NICI Fund has a $14.9M budget over three years. CED will receive $4.08M to deliver the initiative in Quebec in collaboration with other federal, provincial and regional partners, and to help develop solutions to local and regional food security challenges.

Photo credit: Makivvik

Eligible clients

Eligible clients may include:

• Food and agriculture businesses
• Non-profit organizations
• Sector associations
• Local, regional and Indigenous organizations and governments
• Cooperatives
• Social enterprises
• Economic development institutions

Emphasis will be placed on ensuring priority access to funding for Inuit clients for projects that benefit their communities.

Eligible activities

The NICI Fund aims to support:

1. Businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to start or expand production, processing and distribution of food products using practical approaches.
2. Projects that strengthen local and regional food supply chains.
3. Indigenous, community-led and other projects that deploy innovative technologies, techniques or approaches to improve local or regional food security.