New report shows food bank demand rises across Canada

SYDNEY -

According to a new report by Food Banks Canada, demand for food banks has increased 20 per cent since 2019.

"It's pretty startling actually and it's disheartening," says Mark Leblanc, executive director of the regional food bank in Shediac, N.B., and Food Banks Canada representative.

He says there is another number that's even more alarming.

"One-third of clients that come to food banks in Canada are children. I mean this stands right out there. That's an incredible number," says Leblanc.

"Well, that's our statistic here for folks living in poverty. One in three kids are currently living in poverty in Cape Breton," says Lynne McCarron, head of United Way Cape Breton.

McCarron says hearing one in three food bank users are children is a statistic that rings hauntingly familiar. She feels the issue of poverty has wound up on the backburner during the pandemic and other factors contributing to food insecurity during COVID-19.

"Access to transportation, access to the internet in an affordable way. Poverty is like a spider's web, there's not just one cause and one effect," says McCarron.

"Well, I wasn't surprised. It's been a challenging year for many, many Canadian households," says Sylvain Charlebois, director of Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

He says this big spike in food bank visits might boil down to simple economics.

"There's a bit of a perfect storm hitting all of us right now. When you look at the two necessities of life, lodging and food, both are becoming way more expensive," says Charlebois.

The report also shows food bank visits went up the most in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, but have slightly decreased in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Another find shows the use of food banks dropped in rural communities, but increased in urban areas.

"I think racialized communities are being impacted by the pandemic and of course they are seeking help more often," says Charlebois.

Leblanc says 60 per cent of visitors to the Shediac location have been new clients, adding these numbers should be alarming.

"This is our country, our community, our province and when we see people suffering day to day, we need to take care of it. That's what Canada is about," says Leblanc.

The report's recommendations include introducing a national rent program to help Canadians free up more money to put food on the table.