Report finds Albertans have highest rate of food insecurity in the country
CBC
More than 20 per cent of Albertans say they are struggling to put food on the table, according to data analyzed in a University of Toronto report released earlier this month. That is the highest percentage out of all the provinces.
Researchers found that about 5.8 million people in Canada experienced some form of food insecurity in 2021.
The study, Household Food Insecurity in Canada, said that total number equates to 15.9 per cent of households across all 10 provinces. The study looked at food insecurity rates in the provinces throughout the pandemic.
Valerie Tarasuk, a professor of nutritional sciences at U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, said Alberta ranking highest is a troubling development.
"In the distant past, we often would be charting higher rates of food insecurity in the Maritime provinces," Tarasuk said.
"This is a new thing for us to see Alberta, stepping out to this extent, stepping this far out of the pack with such a high rate of food insecurity."
This is a look at how Alberta compares to other provinces. Data from the territories was not available.
Tarasuk's research group, known as PROOF, drew on data from 54,000 households in Statistics Canada's Canadian Income Survey, gathered in 2021. Researchers defined food insecurity as "inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints."
Close to 6.3 per cent of Albertans surveyed said they faced severe food insecurity, meaning people went periods of time without eating any food in a span of more than a year.
The report also found that 1.4 million children in Canada live in households that experience food insecurity.
For Noreen Willows, a professor of population and public health nutrition at the University of Alberta, the results were surprising.
Willows said since about 2005, food security been measured on a survey called the Canadian Community Health Survey and in the last few years, the same questions have been included on Statistics Canada's Canadian income survey.
She added that she would have liked to see the report analyze provincial-level data but said the report's findings were concerning.
"Definitely in Alberta, we can't let a situation like this continue, because for some individuals, this situation is quite dire within their households," she said.