Montreal public market teams up with community organizations to tackle food insecurity
CBC
Austin Ola-Daniels was making the most of his Saturday morning, browsing the stalls at his local farmer's market in east end Montreal.
With a huge smile on his face, Ola-Daniels showed off his food coupon card — a recurring voucher provided to vulnerable people or families who are facing food insecurity.
"I love this card, it's been so helpful to my family," Ola-Daniels said.
The new Montrealer arrived with his family from Nigeria just one year ago. He says he uses his card to supplement his family's needs.
The voucher system is part of a new program being offered at the Pointe-aux-Trembles Public Market in partnership with three local community organizations, each with a different clientele base, that will run all summer long.
Ola-Daniels was referred by Aide aux Immigrants à Montréal, an organization that helps immigrants and refugees in the city.
The voucher program allows those living in precarious situations to buy fresh food and produce without worrying about the cost using a prepaid, rechargeable card.
Kate Johansson, the executive director of the Pointe-aux-Trembles Public Market, explained that the amount on the card varies according to household size, with single people getting $50 a month, a couple $75, and $100 for a family of three. Any household with more than four people gets $125 worth of goods per month.
Ola-Daniels said he and his wife were astonished to be given a "credit card."
"She was so happy," Ola-Daniels said of his wife, when he explained they could buy anything they wanted.
For Johansson, that's what the food voucher program is about.
She says giving people a choice of what they buy helps foster a sense of agency and dignity.
"Most of the people that are coming here with the coupon program are from the food bank," Johansson said. "So they typically don't have the choice of their produce or any product that they have."
The program started as a pilot project last year and served 50 households.
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after an officer involved shooting at Danforth Go station early Saturday morning, said Toronto police.
Montreal officials will hold a ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre today.
The City of Regina's proposal to build a roadway through the McKell Wascana Conservation Park should be discarded, local conservationists say.
A holiday event that began in 2020 during the pandemic with three floats on pickup trucks has now become one of Kelowna’s big winter events, drawing thousands to the city’s downtown core.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.