Report Shows Nearly 40 Percent of Ontario Food Banks Limiting Supplies Due to High Demand

December 2, 2024 TruthUSA

Nearly 40 percent of Ontario food banks report that they have had to decrease the amount of food they distribute to users due to a second consecutive year of unprecedented demand, as outlined in a recent report.

“Many food banks have hit their growth limits, despite the increasing need in their communities,” stated Feed Ontario CEO Carolyn Stewart in the organization’s 2024 report titled, “Unravelling at the Seams.”

“Being one of the last resort supports before homelessness, we must prevent food banks from deteriorating.”

Feed Ontario, representing a network of over 1,200 food banks and hunger relief organizations in Ontario, disclosed that more than one million individuals, or one in 16 Ontarians, utilized a food bank in 2023. With a 73 percent increase in unique individuals accessing food banks in the last two years, the organization anticipates a further 24 percent surge in demand by 2025.

During the pandemic from 2019 to 2021, there was an 8 percent rise in unique individuals using food banks in Ontario, alongside a 32 percent increase in overall visits to these food banks. However, between 2022 and 2023, the number of unique individuals spiked by 73 percent, and visits surged by 78 percent.

Feed Ontario cautioned about a widening gap between the demand for support and the available resources for food banks in recent years, with Ontarians struggling to donate as much as before.

“Other than food banks, there are limited options to fill this ‘void,’ as they cannot levy taxes like governments or increase prices like businesses,” highlighted the report, pointing out the unforeseen sharp rise occurring currently.

Various economic factors such as soaring inflation and housing expenses, elevated interest rates, and decreased productivity have resulted in a cost-of-living crisis for numerous Canadians over the past four years. Canada’s inflation rate surged from 2.2 percent in March 2021 to a peak of 8.1 percent in June 2022. Despite the Bank of Canada’s higher interest rates bringing inflation closer to the bank’s target of 2 percent, prices for food and housing have remained elevated.

In Budget 2024, the Liberal government unveiled a $1 billion National School Food program aimed at providing meals to an additional 400,000 children annually over the next five years. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has criticized it as a “federal food bureaucracy” program and condemned the Liberals for increasing the federal carbon tax, which he claims is the root cause of higher food, fuel, and housing costs.

Recently, the Liberals announced a two-month exemption from the federal sales tax on specific items to alleviate cost-of-living challenges for Canadians, coupled with proposing $250 cheques for most Canadian workers set to be distributed in the spring.

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