Giving voice to food insecurity in a remote indigenous community in subarctic Ontario, Canada: traditional ways, ways to cope, ways forward

Table 2 Personal and household characteristics of participants (n = 51)

	N	%
Personal characteristics of participants
Age in years
21-30	3	5.9
31-40	16	31.4
41-50	22	43.1
51-60	10	19.6
Sex
Male	27	52.9
Female	24	47.1
Highest level of education
Elementary graduate or less	17	33.3
Secondary graduate or some secondary	19	37.3
Post-secondary graduate or some post-secondary	15	29.4
Main source of income
Salary/wages from employment	39	76.5
Social assistance or other^a	12	23.5
Household characteristics of participants
Household food insecurity^b
Food secure household	12	24.5
Moderately food insecure household	27	55.0
Severely food insecure household	10	20.5
Household type
Couple with children	31	60.8
Couple, no children^c	11	21.6
Lone parent^d	7	13.7
Other^e	2	3.9
Children < 18 years living in household
None	13	25.5
1 or 2	25	49.0
3+	13	25.5
Number of families^f living in household
1	27	52.9
2	24	47.1
Total number of people living in household
1-3	15	29.4
4-6	33	64.7
7+	3	5.9

^aRespondents could choose other sources of income, including worker’s compensation/employment insurance, pension/senior’s benefits or any other source (e.g., alimony, child tax benefits, etc.), however all respondents without a main income source from salary/wages chose social assistance.
^bBased on participant responses to the Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM). The n = 49 as two individuals chose not to respond to the HFSSM questionnaire.
^cIncludes couples living alone or those with children > 18 years.
^dIncludes lone parents living with at least one child < 18 years.
^eIncludes unattached individuals not living with any children < 18 years.
^fA “family” was defined according to the Statistics Canada definition for Census Family [46] (Statistics Canada, 2012).

ISSN: 1471-2458