Over a million Ontarians used food banks last fiscal year: data

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."

"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. 

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."