Sydney, N.S., food bank sees uptick in students

Many of the people having a meal at Loaves and Fishes in Sydney, N.S., these days appear to be students.

"There is a lot of students that come here,” said Marco Amati, general manager of the community kitchen and food bank.

Amati says in general, client numbers have doubled. He blames, in part, the housing crunch in Sydney and surrounding communities.

"To pay for rent and if they're heating their house somehow, that's a big chunk of their cheque gone,” Amati said.

The latest figures from Feed Nova Scotia show that from 2022 to 2023, food bank use went up 26 per cent.

"If you look at Cape Breton during that same time period, the increase was 48 per cent — almost 50 per cent,” said Nick Jennery, Feed Nova Scotia executive director.

The increase in Sydney, versus the rest of the Island, was even higher — around 75 per cent. However, Jennery said the data doesn't indicate why.

"As it relates to the impact of students, (it’s) hard to determine at this point," he said.

Sahilpreet Singh Chatha, president of the Cape Breton University Students' Union, says plenty of students use the food bank they run, as well as public food banks. He's hoping the increase in minimum wage might help.

"Food insecurity has always been an issue — not only for international students, but for domestic students as well,” he said. "Obviously, (students) need more jobs. The new rule where the GIC got increased, it's going to be beneficial for students."

In an email, CBU told CTV Atlantic it donated $40,000 to twenty food banks during the past holiday season and on Giving Tuesday they raised $26,000 for the Students' Union food bank.

CBU noted at least 40 per cent of post-secondary students experience some form of food insecurity.

Feed Nova Scotia is challenging government to act.

"If you set a goal with time-bound measurements — ‘What are we going to do this year? What are we going to do next year?’ — then we will start to see, I believe, those numbers come down,” Jennery said.

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