Food bank visits soar across Canada as costs squeeze families

Food bank visits across Canada reached 2.35 million in March, with nearly one-third of those visits made by children, according to Food Banks Canada's annual HungerCount report released this week. The overall number of visits is up nearly nine percent from last year and a staggering 117 percent since 2019. The report attributes the surge to a combination of high housing costs, food inflation and broader economic pressures. Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley said the findings tell the story of millions of people running out of options.

"[The report] is the story of what happens when millions of people are out of options," Beardsley said in a media release. "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." She said the federal government must modernize employment insurance, double the Canada Workers Benefit and invest in infrastructure to improve food access. The report found that 18 percent of food bank clients are employed and 72 percent live in market rent housing. People with the lowest incomes spend an average of 60 percent of their disposable income on housing alone. Food Banks Canada said grocery prices were up 2.2 percent overall in September, with beef prices skyrocketing by 8.7 percent, according to Statistics Canada.

Local agencies in Niagara are reporting similar trends. Betty Lou Souter, executive director of Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold, said food banks across the country are seeing consistent increases. "We're all noticing the same thing, which says something to me that, collectively, we need to work together a little stronger to make this improve somewhat," Souter said. "Because if it's consistent all the way across Canada, there are problems that aren't being addressed at the right levels [of government]."

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Maxine Hutchins, manager of Community Care's Thorold office, said visits to the Albert Street West food bank are up about 10 percent. "We’ve seen a lot more families," Hutchins said, adding that a man who had just been laid off came in earlier. "He can’t sustain his household, so he has to come to the food bank." Gayle Sears, executive director at Pelham Cares, said her agency's numbers are on par with the national report, serving over 300 people per month and more than 2,600 people so far this year. Sears said there is no single demographic turning to the food bank for help. She said clients include people who have lost their jobs, long-time users, newcomers to the area and those simply struggling to make ends meet. Living Wage Canada said individuals in Niagara need to earn $21.90 per hour to meet basic needs, while Ontario's minimum wage is $17.95.

Souter said the strain is also hard on food bank staff who face rising demand. "The stories you hear are heart-wrenching," Souter said. "People trying really hard to make it, and they can't ... What it does to staff on an ongoing basis, trying to maintain the level of encouragement to tell people that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, because some days, it doesn't look like there is." She said with municipal elections over, agencies need to inform newly elected councillors about the challenges food banks face.