More than a million people living in Ontario turned to food banks during the last fiscal year, according to new data collected by a group of hunger-relief organizations.
Feed Ontario, a network of more than 1,200 food banks and hunger-relief organizations across the province, said in a news release on Tuesday a “record breaking” 1,001,150 people visited a food bank in the province between April 2023 and March 2024. That’s an increase of 25 per cent compared to the previous fiscal year, the group said.
Those people visited food banks an “unprecedented” 7.6 million times during that time, a 134 per cent increase from fiscal 2019-2020, according to the release.
“This represents a continued trend in the rise of food bank visits, marking an eight-year all-time high,” Feed Ontario said.
Feed Ontario CEO Carolyn Stewart called the findings “completely staggering,” adding that working people are among the fastest-rising groups accessing food bank services.
“I’ve been with the organization 15 years and I never thought we’d see this level of demand,” she said. “I cannot believe we reached a point where numbers are so drastically high.”
Stewart said food bank use began rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, but an affordability crisis, made up of high inflation, rising housing costs, and a changing job market, have drawn out the problem.
“Unless we do something soon to address food insecurity and poverty needs in this province, they are going to continue to grow out of control,” Stewart said.
Feed Ontario is calling for government action, including more social services funding, at a time when many food banks are launching their Thanksgiving collection drives ahead of the October holiday.
Mississauga among worst off
According to Stewart, Mississauga has some of the fastest-growing rates of food insecurity in the province.
Like many cities in Ontario, she said it’s dealing with a rising population, limited housing supply and high living costs.
“All of these things are culminating to make an incredibly challenging environment for people to be able to make ends meet,” Stewart said.
On Monday, Food Banks Mississauga launched its annual Thanksgiving Drive, noting in a press release that food insecurity in the city increased by 58 per cent in the last year.
“In 2019, it was one in 37 residents in the city using the food bank, and now it’s triple that,” CEO Meghan Nicholls said.
“One in 13 people are using the food bank in Mississauga … We are a big city with a big city problem of hunger, poverty and homelessness.”
Students are among those most affected by the affordability crisis, said Christy Upshall, CEO of Our Place Peel, a non-profit agency that helps shelter young people in the region.
She said youth often work low-wage or part-time jobs but have to pay big-city rent prices.
“It’s just not enough money to put food on their table,” Upshall said. “It’s certainly a crisis.”
Stewart said one of the solutions she’s hoping to see implemented at the provincial level is better social services.
“These programs are falling into disrepair. They have basically been ignored for a very long time,” she said.
She said she wants to see the province ensure services are keeping up with inflation, “but also [with] the real cost of living, and that they’re meeting the demands of those who are accessing them.”
Anastasiya Romanska, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, said in an email the province has taken a number of steps to make life more affordable and help ensure children don’t go to school hungry. They include boosting funding for a student nutrition program, raising Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates and increasing payments for children with severe disabilities.
Ontario has also increased the minimum wage and introduced tax credits to put money back into the pockets of parents and low-income people, Romanska said.
“Our government is doing our part to work with municipal partners to build a more responsive, efficient and person-centred social assistance system through ongoing centralized delivery and other digital initiatives,” the statement said.
“We call on the federal government do their part and provide more funding to ensure no families in need are left behind.”
Food banks struggling
Stewart says almost 70 per cent of food banks in its network are reporting concerns about food shortages, and over 50 per cent are concerned funding shortfalls will impact operations.
“This is what happens when you rely on a system that’s meant to provide and deal with emergencies,” she said.
Stewart said now more than ever the need for food bank donations is high, but “many of those former donors are, in fact, turning to food banks for support.”
Despite how bleak the situation appears, she says she still is hopeful that positive change can happen. First, because food banks work hard to meet demands, and, second because policy solutions like CERB show that the government can enact swift responses to crises, she said.
“We just need everyone to hear this call to action,” she said.