Food bank usage across Canada hit all-time high, report says

A record-setting number of people across the country used food banks this year, with high inflation and low social assistance rates cited as key factors in the rise, according to a new report from Food Banks Canada.

The annual report released Thursday said there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in March, 15 per cent more than the number of visits in the same month last year and 35 per cent higher than visits in March 2019, before the pandemic hit.

Linda Godin, a 72-year-old living on a fixed income in Edmonton, is among those who have had to turn to food banks given the rising cost of living.

"It's kind of hard sometimes to make ends meet," she told CBC News. "I try to budget as much as I can but sometimes the budgeting doesn't work."

The Food Banks Canada report is based on data from more than 4,750 food banks and community organizations. The report said the skyrocketing cost of food and housing, as well as high inflation and low social assistance rates, have contributed to the rise in food bank usage.

"What we are seeing is the combination of long-term effects to a broken social safety net combined with the effects of inflation and high costs driving more people to use food banks than ever before in Canadian history," said Kirstin Beardsley, the CEO of Food Banks Canada.

"Behind each one of these numbers is a person who is struggling too much to get by."

Fixed-income groups like seniors and employed but low-income people such as students have been hit harder because their paycheques can't keep up with inflation, Beardsley said.

"We have got people like seniors, who have been able to afford to live, suddenly having to turn to the food bank for the first time in their lives because it doesn't all add up," Beardsley said.

"And students are the same; often they are on a very limited income, and so when the costs go up, the way we have seen, you just can't stretch the dollar."

Ottawa Food Bank CEO Rachael Wilson said she's seeing those same challenges playing out locally.

"Students are really struggling," she told CBC News Network.  "When you look at the cost of education, as well as the cost of rent here in Ottawa — I know it's similar in Toronto and across the country. The cost of food is incredibly challenging."

The report also said that around 500,000 food bank clients — about one-third — are children, who make up around 20 per cent of the country's total population.

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