2M Canadians visit food banks monthly, 700K of those being children: report

As food bank visits soar to an all-time high – food bank leaders and food insecurity advocates have gathered in Montreal for the first-ever Food Insecurity Summit. Nearly 500 representatives from across the country met to find solutions against this common struggle.

“There’s so many reasons and ways that food banks can help and that’s by bringing in all the community partners,” said Véronique Beaulieu-Fowler, Director Of Philanthropy at Food Banks Quebec.

“What we want people to know is we are there, we are present,” she said.

Led by Food Banks Canada, the summit is a call-to-action on how Canada can turn the page and reduce hunger and food insecurity in half by 2030. Food banks across Canada are seeing a 90 per cent increase in food bank use since 2019.

“We have all the ingredients,” says Food Banks Canada CEO, Kirstin Beardsley — referring to food bank leaders in attendance.

“When you see the energy in the room, we’ve got all we need to turn the tide, so it’s going to take everyone’s commitment to make a generational difference on the issue,” Beardsley added.

Beaulieu-Fowler says within Quebec the profile of people visiting banks has changed — as 47 per cent of those walking through their doors are parents with children at home.

Over 2 million people across Canada visit one each month – nearly 700,000 of those are children.

“We’re looking at $350 million of food that is donated, purchased and distributed across our Quebec network,” said Beaulieu-Fowler. “That is a huge amount of food and that represents kind of how much we need to serve the people that really need it.”

The summit featured keynote speakers, panel discussions, and workshops from various sectors, including representatives from the Agri-food sector.

“When we look at trends, the unfortunate reality is that trend towards a demand for lower cost, more affordable food is coming at the same time as a significant trend for farmers in rising cost of producing food,” says Executive Director at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture Scott Ross, during a panel discussion.

‘The future for many farmers is very uncertain right now’

“It poses a real fundamental challenge for farmers who want to help and there’s no question this comes up time and again at our meetings and our discussions is a desire to contribute to the food security challenges both domestically and globally. But they are facing unprecedented uncertainty,” he explained.

Beardsley and Beaulieu-Fowler said there is a dire need to find long term solutions, which is felt by food banks nationwide.

“The food bank system can’t continue to see the rate of growth that we’ve seen. The system does not have an infinite capacity to be able to absorb even more folks in need,” said Beardsley.

“We’re definitely seeing an increase in the number of people who need food help across the board and that is highly concerning,” added Beaulieu-Fowler.

Beaulieu-Fowler noted 20 per cent of clients report that their primary income is from a job. She explained that they’ve worked with the provincial government for a few years — which provides Food Banks Quebec with emergency help for food purchasing.

“We’re very thankful because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to fulfill the need that we’re seeing right now,” she said.

Both say they hope to re-energize their commitment to turning the direction of food insecurity in Canada by continuing to advocate for governmental policy change to reduce the need for food banks.

“It’s not just about the individuals, although that’s, I try to remind folks that behind those big numbers are real people,” Beardsley explained. “We can’t build the future of a country when that many people don’t have their basic necessities covered.”