{"id":685510,"date":"2026-05-22T03:05:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/685510\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T03:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T03:05:35","slug":"north-of-60-project-supports-residents-in-canadas-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/685510\/","title":{"rendered":"North of 60 Project supports residents in Canada\u2019s north"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the parking lot of a St. Albert church, a sea can filled with necessities is ready for a long journey north.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of The Society of St. Vincent de Paul\u2019s North of 60 Project. Linda Tutt is chair of the St. Albert chapter.<\/p>\n

The shipment is going to the Hamlet of Ulukhaktok on Victoria Island in the Northwest Territories. It\u2019s situated along the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean \u2014 fewer than 500 people live there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe collaborate with them year round, trying to find out what they use, what they need,\u201d Tutt explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery remote. No roads, just fly-in only for a few months. In the summer, the water opens up for a barge to come with their non-perishables, any vehicles they\u2019ve ordered, construction material, fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sea can will be trucked north to Hay River, then by barge the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

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This will be the first time since 2023 that water levels on the Mackenzie River will be high enough for a barge to get through.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith the Mackenzie River too low, we\u2019ve had to truck it to Tuktoyaktuk to the cost of nearly $20,000 per sea can,\u201d Tutt said.<\/p>\n

The North of 60 Project is powered by donations and volunteers. The focus is food bank support, but other items to help the school, recreation and sewing groups are sent too.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the rest of the year the food is flown in, so it\u2019s very, very expensive, one of the highest costs of living in Canada,\u201d Tutt explained.<\/p>\n

Tutt has visited the hamlet three times. She\u2019s seen a jar of pasta sauce, for example, cost up to $15, a jug of milk about $10, and a box of chicken strips almost $30.<\/p>\n

\u201cCost is a major factor living in the north, food-wise and clothing-wise,\u201d Ulukhaktok resident Emily Kudlak said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo be able to get donations on the barge once a year makes a big difference in our lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kudlak has lived in the hamlet her whole life. She said it is hard at times to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you\u2019re working full time you have to depend on the food bank,\u201d Kudlak said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou just barely make it payday to payday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The barge is expected to arrive in late summer and when it comes, it will be a celebration for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcitement, because by then we are low on certain items at the stores,\u201d Kudlak said.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s grateful for all the effort by volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank them for everything they do for the northern communities and for Ulukhaktok,\u201d Kudlak said.<\/p>\n

For Tutt, it\u2019s been a learning experience and she is happy to get to know fellow Canadians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve created just a really good friendship and serving those that we can,\u201d Tutt said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the parking lot of a St. Albert church, a sea can filled with necessities is ready for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,251222,251223,44,251221,912],"class_list":["post-685510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-arctic","tag-cost-of-living-arctic","tag-news","tag-north-of-60-project","tag-northwest-territories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}