Food bank usage across Canada hit all time high, nearly 1.5M visits in March: report
Global News
The number of people using food banks across Canada surged to an all-time high earlier this year, with high inflation and low social assistance rates cited as key factors.
The number of people using food banks across the country surged to an all-time high earlier this year, with high inflation and low social assistance rates cited as key factors in the rise, a new report from Food Banks Canada indicates.
The annual report released Thursday said there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in March, a figure that was 15 per cent higher than the number of visits in the same month last year and 35 per cent higher than visits in March 2019, before the pandemic hit.
The report, which looked at data from more than 4,750 food banks and community organizations, said the skyrocketing cost of food and housing, as well as high inflation and lowsocial assistance rates, have contributed to the rise in food bank usage.
Kirstin Beardsley, the CEO of Food Banks Canada, called the numbers “devastating.”
“What we are seeing is the combination of long-term effects to a broken social safety net combined with the effects of inflation and high costs driving more people to use food banks than ever before in Canadian history,” she said in a phone interview.
“Behind each one of these numbers is a person who is struggling too much to get by.”
Fixed-income groups like seniors and employed but low-income people such as students have been hit harder because their paycheques can’t keep up with inflation, Beardsley said.
“We have got people like seniors, who have been able to afford to live, suddenly having to turn to the food bank for the first time in their lives because it doesn’t all add up,” Beardsley said.