Food insecurity in Canada has hit 'crisis' level, millions of Canadians going hungry
· Toronto Sun
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Canadians continue to face an uncertain future as income fails to keep pace with food price increases.
New data released from Statistics Canada showed that 24% of Canadians were living in a food-insecure household last year.
In real numbers, the percentage works out to approximately 9.8 million people, including 2.4 million children, living in households that struggled to afford the food needed.
“Food insecurity in Canada has hit crisis levels,” Marissa Alexander, executive director of Food Secure Canada, said in a news release from March of last year. “Grocery prices and poverty are rising, while trade vulnerabilities and corporate concentration put us at even greater risk … Food sovereignty has never been more urgent for our country’s future.”
2.2 million visitors to food banks
According to a Food Banks Canada report, food banks across the country recorded nearly 2.2 million visits in March of last year.
“That’s double the monthly usage recorded just six years ago,” the report said. “It took decades to reach one million visits in a month, and it has now taken half a decade to double that.”
One-third of food bank clients are children, 34% are newcomers to Canada, defined as living in Canada 10 years or less, and 40% of clients recorded social assistance for income.
The Food Banks Canada website said that 2,726 food banks reported in for the study.
Statistics Canada reports food prices rose 6.2% over the past year, the highest level since 2023. That increase is roughly double the rate seen in the U.S.
Three types of food insecurity
A food insecure household indicates a lack of resources to meet basic dietary needs. According to Statistics Canada, there are three categories of food insecurity.
Marginal food insecurity means worrying about running out of food or having a limited selection of food; moderate food insecurity means compromising in the quality or quantity of food and severe food insecurity means missing meals, having a reduced food intake and going day(s) without food.
The percentage of people living in moderately food-insecure households ranged from 8.0% in Quebec to 15.2% in Manitoba; the percentage of those living in severely food-insecure households varied from 4.1% in Quebec to 9.4% in Alberta
The percentage of people living in food-insecure households was highest in Nunavut at 56.4%.
Among the provinces, the percentage of individuals living in food-insecure households was highest in Alberta at 28.4%, New Brunswick at 28.2%, and Manitoba at 27.9%.
The percentage was lowest in Yukon at 15.5%, Northwest Territories at 16.4%, and Quebec at 18.0%.