Food bank visits hit record 2.35 million monthly, report finds

Monthly visits to Canada's food banks reached a record 2.35 million in 2026, according to the annual HungerCount report from Food Banks Canada. The figure represents a nearly nine percent increase over the past year and a 117 percent rise since 2019. The report, which encompasses more than 5,500 food banks and community organizations, warns that millions of people are now forced to make impossible trade-offs between food and other basic needs. Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley said the data shows what happens when people run out of options.

"In the past, most people in Canada could absorb a small financial setback, a car repair, a family illness, a modest increase in food prices at the grocery store. Those days are over," said Beardsley. "Canada's bleak new reality is that millions of people are making impossible trade-offs every day as they choose between food or rent." The organization is calling for long-needed economic security reforms, stating that decades of inadequate government action have made food banks a permanent part of the social safety net. Beardsley urged bold action on the policy recommendations in the report. "To truly build a Canada where we take care of each other, the federal government must move swiftly to modernize EI, double the Canada Workers Benefit and invest in critical infrastructure to improve food access and support a more affordable and resilient future," she said. The report calls on governments to make focused commitments to support long-term economic well-being while investing in resilient food infrastructure.

Data collection changes affected reporting for some regions. In Quebec, projections were applied due to incomplete data. Comparisons to prior years were not possible for Nunavut and the Northwest Territories due to changes in estimation methods. Compared to 2021, Manitoba saw a 115.6 percent increase in visits.

With files from Muskoka411