Boxes wait to be filled with provisions at the Daily Bread Food Bank warehouse in Toronto on March 18, 2020. The Canadian Press/Chris Young
The number of monthly visits to food banks in Canada has hit a record 2.3 million, up 9 percent from a year earlier, according to a new report from Food Banks Canada.
“Food bank visits surpassed last year’s record-breaking level, reflecting the growing number of people in Canada experiencing financial hardship and record-high rates of food insecurity,” said the “HungerCount 2026” report released Oct. 21.
The
report saidthe use of food banks in Canada has risen 117 percent since 2019. Nearly nearly one-third of clients, or around 776,000 visits, involved children.
The share of food bank clients who reported employment as their main source of income rose to nearly 18 percent this year, up from 12 percent in 2019. Provincial social assistance and disability-related income support were the primary income sources for nearly 41 percent of clients.
The report also found that people living in market rent housing made up 71.8 percent of all food bank clients, and these renters were “more likely to be newcomers, members of racialized communities, employed, and couples with children.”
The report said immigrants to Canada who had been in the country for 10 years or less account for nearly 31 percent of food bank clients, compared to 13 percent of clients in 2019.
“Compared to the general population in Canada, newcomers are overall more likely to be overqualified for their current job, and more likely to be involuntarily working part time,” the report noted.
Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley said the report’s findings show “what happens when millions of people are out of options.” She said that while Canadians could previously overcome financial setbacks such as a family illness, car repairs, or increase in food prices, “Those days are over.”
“Canada’s bleak new reality is that millions of people are making impossible trade-offs every day as they choose between food or rent,” she said in a statement.
Statistics Canada’s latest inflation report found that consumer prices rose 3.1 percent year over year in September, while prices for food purchased from stores increased 1.7 percent. Grocery price growth slowed for a second consecutive month relative to overall inflation. However, grocery prices remained 33 percent higher than in September 2020.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre commented on the food report on social media, criticizing government policy for the uptake in food bank use, saying, “after 11 years of Liberals, Canadians can no longer afford to put food on their table.” He called for the government to remove “all taxes” on food, alluding to what he described as “hidden taxes” that he says impact food prices, such as the industrial carbon tax.
The Liberal government has sought to address food affordability through the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, as well as the National Food Security Strategy to increase competition at grocery stores and boost domestic food production and processing.
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