(Photography by Claudine Baltazar)

In 1975, at the age of 21, I moved from California to North York. My parents had grown up in Toronto and wanted me to experience the city too. I took some advertising and business courses at Seneca College, but never graduated with a degree or diploma. I had a few jobs over the years, mostly in sales: I worked in cosmetic sales at the Bay, wrote call scripts for telemarketing companies and did fundraising for not-for-profits. I never made a lot of money—my savings always hovered around $2,000. 

The cost of living was much cheaper back then so I never had to worry about finding affordable food or housing. My first apartment, in 1990, was a one-bedroom in North York that I rented for just $300 a month. My next place, in 1993, was a $700 two-bedroom that I shared with a friend. On the weekends, I took out a $20 bill from the ATM, which covered both groceries and entertainment. I could buy bread, cheese, bologna slices and pasta all for $10, with a lot left over to hang out at the local bar. 

In 2009, at the age of 55, I moved into a rent-controlled condo in North York, at Marlee and Eglinton. The rent was $900 a month, and I split the cost with my partner, who is an independent filmmaker. We were lucky to find such an affordable living situation—market rent at the time was $1,100. I was working in sales for a vitamin company, earning minimum wage and bringing home $400 a week; my partner was earning about $1,000 a month. 

MORE: The Food Diaries: The cost of getting by in Vancouver

At 58, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, high blood pressure and a thyroid condition. My doctor told me to think about slowing down and I retired in 2012. I didn’t have much money to fall back on, with no savings and only $3,000 in my chequing account, but I figured I could pick up some part-time work if I needed to. I looked for office jobs—telemarketing, customer service, filing—but I couldn’t find anything. So, I went on welfare for about six years, bringing in around $345 a month. Nowadays, at 69, I receive $1,700 a month from government assistance, $232 from the Canada pension and $1,500 from old-age security. My partner, brings in about $1,200 a month. We still can’t afford to buy food. 

I live right across from an Urban Fresh, but it’s too expensive for me. Instead, once a month, I go to No Frills or FreshCo, which are relatively cheap. I buy vegetables to make a big salad—lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers. That lasts me about a week. That’s what I usually eat, because I can’t afford to buy other groceries. Sometimes I’ll splurge and buy almond milk (it helps wth my osteoporosis), pita bread and cheese slices, or fresh fruit, like apples and strawberries, if they’re on sale. It all costs about $60—the maximum we can afford to spend on groceries. The rest of our income covers our phone and internet bills and the fare for public transit, which we use to travel to community food programs and food banks around the city. 

We go to food programs about six times a week—in North York at a food truck run by Ve’ahavta, a Jewish non-profit; in midtown at St. Clement’s Church; and downtown at Toronto Lawyers Feed the Hungry. They serve lasagna, salads, rice, meatballs and tuna sandwiches—meals that I can’t afford to make at home. From the North York Harvest food bank, where we go twice a month, I can get Campbell’s soup, zucchini, Kraft macaroni and eggs, which I wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise. If I didn’t have access to these programs, I would starve. But I worry whether I’m getting all the nutrients I need, especially with my osteoporosis.

We spend our free time talking to the people we meet at these food programs. It’s nice to stay connected to our community and socialize with others. At the same time, it’s frustrating to realize that I’ve worked hard my whole life and still can’t afford to buy food. 

RELATED: The Food Diaries: Groceries on a budget in Edmonton

We don’t have much housing security either. Our rent has risen to $1,100 a month, which my partner and I split. Our landlord is in his 70s. He could sell our unit at any moment—there’s no protection or guarantees. I’m only 69, mobile and otherwise healthy. But what will happen as I get older and need care? This month, I only have $1,500 in my savings account—and I haven’t even paid my rent. If we want to treat ourselves, we’ll go to Tim Hortons and get a doughnut. There are no fancy dinners or trips. I try to stay positive amid everything. I volunteer with community programs that help students and new immigrants. I make collage art. I write stories about my life. 

Food banks aren’t the answer—the government needs to do more to help feed people. We need affordable supermarkets with affordable groceries, where people pay what they can. There should be more affordable land, where people can grow their own food gardens, as a way to save money and become self-sustainable. You shouldn’t have to choose between paying rent and eating dinner, but with rising rental costs and unaffordable food pricing, that’s the choice we face. 

—As told to Mathew Silver 

The post I’ve worked hard my whole life and I can’t afford food appeared first on Macleans.ca.

With the rising costs of nearly everything, Canadians are particularly feeling the pinch when it comes to rising food costs across the country, further fuelling a food insecurity crisis being experienced by many throughout the nation. Here, Tharim Maryoly Sanchez Quiroz, a business student in Winnipeg, Manitobam shares her story:

In January, I moved from Colombia to Canada with my nine-year-old daughter, Allegra, so I could study business at the University of Manitoba. A few weeks after I arrived, I lost $4,300 in a fraud scam to someone pretending to be from Service Canada. A huge chunk of my savings were gone.

I was already stretched before that: I’m a student for eight hours a day and a mother for the rest. I work on my assignments, take my daughter to school, prepare meals and do housework. Sometimes I struggle to get more than four hours of sleep. I have a remote part-time job, and I’d like to find a position in Canada that allows me to work from home for three hours a day. Balancing it all isn’t easy.

Groceries are so expensive here. For example, a papaya in Colombia costs the equivalent of $2. Here, it’s three times as much. When I compare the difference in meat prices between Colombia and here, I just take a deep breath and tell myself, “It’s okay, I’ll find a way.”

To save money for food, I moved into a friend’s two-bedroom apartment, and we split the $1,288 rent. That helps a lot, but I still have to be strategic with groceries so that my daughter can have a healthy diet. I started an Excel sheet to track our food budget. We can only spend an average of $360 from my savings, though sometimes it goes up to $400. Making calculations to see what we can buy is like an extra job.

One week, I went to Giant Tiger and picked up bananas, spaghetti and rice. I wanted apples for my daughter’s snacks. A few months ago, a bag of them went for $4.90, but this time it was almost $7, so I just bought two individual apples. Spinach was expensive so I bought lettuce instead—I always buy one of the two, but never both. I left the avocados and grapes on the shelf because they were too pricey. A few days later, I went to Safeway because there was a sale on chicken. I bought enough for a few weeks and stocked the freezer. I told my daughter that our meat would just be chicken for a while. Beef is too expensive. On the weekend, I went to Walmart to buy bread. It’s tradition back home to go to a nice bakery and buy four or five croissants for a dollar. We don’t do that here because they cost a dollar apiece, so instead we got tortillas and sandwich bread.

We go to two local food banks: the University of Manitoba Food Bank every three weeks, and Harvest Manitoba community food centre once a month. They give us some items to supplement our weekly groceries, like oranges, lemons, bananas, canned foods and peanut butter, and that helps our budget. We are eating enough—it’s not like we’re going hungry—but we are constantly thinking about how we can have balanced meals.

Allegra is understanding about the fact that we have to change our buying habits. Sometimes she will ask for a croissant or ice cream, and maybe once a month I will splurge for her and get her a treat. Back home, we liked to go out to eat once or twice a month. Here, we can’t afford that, but I’ll still take her to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal, and pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for myself. If groceries were cheaper, I’d order with her. I’d get a nice, big hamburger. — As told to Andrea Yu

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post The Food Diaries: Winnipeg appeared first on Macleans.ca.

With the rising costs of nearly everything, Canadians are particularly feeling the pinch when it comes to rising food costs across the country, further fuelling a food insecurity crisis being experienced by many throughout the nation. Here, Yvonne Alabaster, a former chef and now on disability support in Toronto discusses how she gets by:

I spent two decades working as a chef for places like the Intercontinental Hotel Group, Chili’s and Cora. I have fibromyalgia, rapid-onset migraines and a condition called hidradenitis suppurativa, which leaves open wounds on my skin. In 2017, my symptoms got so bad that I went on disability. I now receive $1,500 each month. I live with a roommate in a huge two-bedroom apartment in Toronto’s east end. It’s fairly affordable because my roommate’s mother lived there for 20 years before she died. I pay $625 a month in rent and buy groceries; my roommate pays for cable and internet.

I’m lactose-intolerant and gluten-sensitive, but I can no longer afford to buy lactose-free milk and cheese or gluten-free pasta. I’ve started buying regular milk and gluten pasta because it’s cheaper. I try to eat it in small amounts. It’s not great when I sit down to eat a bowl of pasta I know is going to aggravate my skin and hurt my stomach. But I have to eat.

I only have around $5 per day to spend on food. I’m sticking to one meal a day—I eat bread and peanut butter to keep my body from going into starvation mode. Occasionally I break down and have a can of soup at lunch. I’m always tired.

Many of the sales in Toronto start on Thursdays, so I look up the flyers on Wednesdays and compare what’s on sale that day and what’s on sale the next so I know when to run out to the store. This week I went to Food Basics and bought a loaf of bread, a bag of peppers, and canned tomatoes, which I will use to make a giant pot of pasta sauce that will last me the month. There was a good deal on ground beef—$4 a pound—so I bought three pounds and froze some. I also got five decent-sized chicken breasts for $12. Because I found meat on sale, I was able to buy bananas at 69 cents a pound, which made me really happy because I can rarely afford fruit anymore. I also bought bags of frozen peas and corn. I always buy the one-kilogram bags, but I’ve noticed they’re only 750 grams now even though the price has stayed the same. When did that change?

I’m luckier than a lot of people in my situation: I was a chef for two decades, so I can buy a pork tenderloin and cut that into a week’s worth of chops. Recently I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos on container gardening. I think food costs are only going to get worse, so I’m going to try my hand at planting a garden on my balcony next year. I’d like to grow tomatoes and can them so I can cut down on that cost, as well as strawberries and raspberries, so I can enjoy fruit again. — As told to Isabel B. Slone

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post Food Diaries: Toronto appeared first on Macleans.ca.

With the rising costs of nearly everything, Canadians are particularly feeling the pinch when it comes to rising food costs across the country, further fuelling a food insecurity crisis being experienced by many throughout the nation. Here, Joan Carr, who lives in Stratford, P.E.I., shares how she manages to get by on a budget in retirement:

I’m 75 years old, and for the first time in my life, I feel poor. Growing up in a minister’s family, we didn’t have a lot, but we had enough food and sometimes even got new clothes. I spent 25 years at a non-profit in Gaspé, Quebec, doing community development. I worked my way up to executive director, and I had more than enough. The problem was that there was no pension plan.

In 2006, I moved to P.E.I., and things got harder for me. I provided care for my ex-husband, and I had my own medical bills to pay, too. When I retired, I only had Old Age Security cheques and a small stipend from CPP for my daily expenses—my total income was $1,600 per month. With strict budgeting, I made it work. Even when my rent increased from $600 to $800 per month, P.E.I.’s subsidized seniors housing program helped pay for half of it, and I lived fine.

Then food started getting more expensive. I’ve especially felt the pinch in these COVID years—it’s like the pandemic jacked up the price of groceries and gas and many commodities that I used to take for granted. I always functioned on $200 a month for groceries. Now, I often exceed that budget and have to borrow $120 from my line of credit. The cost of food has risen, but my pension hasn’t.
I can no longer afford a good, healthy meal. A jar of spaghetti sauce now goes for $4. Butter went from $3.29 to $5.69. Even a can of frozen lemonade went from 99 cents to $1.35. I used to have protein once a day, but now I have it three times a week, sometimes in the form of legumes. I buy pork sausages instead of bone-in pork chops, because I can’t afford the weight of the bone. I no longer touch lamb or fish, and I can’t remember the last time I bought a roasted chicken.

There are nice local food stores in town that I love, but I can’t afford them. Instead, I’ll visit multiple grocery stores in a week to catch the sales, often going to two or three at once to save on gas. First, I go to the Superstore because it has the best prices and good fruit and vegetables. I’ll get my apples, bananas, potatoes and turnips. Then I’ll go to No Frills for condiments like peanut butter. After that, I go to Foodland, because they sometimes have butter on sale. I’ll buy spaghetti and bread at one of those places, wherever it’s on sale, and freeze the extra bread. I buy my dates, flour and vitamins at Bulk Barn, but it’s not necessarily cheaper there—I have to weigh it all out and do the math. Trying to eat well on a budget feels like a sport: I’ve learned some tricks to keep going, like collecting recipes to make cheap cuts of meat taste good, or figuring out which foods freeze well.

I play bridge with friends. The topic of conversation used to be the weather. Now it’s the cost of food. I even know of seniors who divorced just so they could each get a government subsidy from it and each bring in more money. Some people are planting gardens to grow vegetables, though seeds are getting expensive, too. I’m an optimist but I’m worried now. If costs continue to rise like they’ve done in these COVID years, I might not have enough to cover my debts and preserve my health.

—As told to Andrea Yu

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post The Food Diaries: Prince Edward Island appeared first on Macleans.ca.

With the rising costs of nearly everything, Canadians are particularly feeling the pinch when it comes to rising food costs across the country, further fuelling a food insecurity crisis being experienced by many throughout the nation. Husna Shaikh, a talent acquisition team leader living in Vancouver and stay-at-home mom ChingYun Chien, also living in Vancouver, share their stories:

Husna Shaikh: My daughter and I always lived comfortably. I own a three-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot duplex, and I never had to pay attention to what I spent. If we needed something for the house, or if my six-year-old daughter, Zara, needed clothing, I just bought it. We’d go out to eat a couple of times a week, and I was still able to save some money.

It seemed like all of my costs started going up around the same time: groceries, gas, restaurants. One gas tank used to cost me about $60; it was $90 the last time I filled up. I have a variable interest rate, so my mortgage payments have increased by more than $800 a month. I don’t have any money left at the end of the month to save. I’ve even had to dip into my savings account to cover one-off expenses, like when my car needed an oil change, or when the electricity bill was higher than normal. If my mortgage payments continue to go up, I’ll have to go into my savings more often.

I needed to make some changes in order to make ends meet. I used to go to the Save-On-Foods for everything because it’s walking distance from our house. Now I’ll go to No Frills or Superstore because they’re cheaper. I use the Flipp app to find flyers, and I base my shopping around that. I’m buying no-name brands because they’re cheaper. For example, I used to buy Jamieson vitamins for about $15. Now I buy the Life brand for $5 or $10.

I’m also more conscious about buying fruit that lasts longer, like bananas instead of strawberries. We used to buy organic milk, but I was always worried about not using it up before it went bad. So now we get the Fairlife brand because it lasts longer. We drink every single drop.

My daughter understands that we can’t buy everything we want at the grocery store anymore. I used to get her things from the bakery, like cheese buns and croissants, for her lunches. Now I’ll pack her peanut butter sandwiches because they’re cheaper.

Sometimes I’ll buy items just because they’re on sale. It’s usually quick and easy dinner options. For example, PC brand ready-made quiches were recently on sale—$3 for a pack of four. We never used to eat much pasta, like ravioli, but we’re buying it more often now because it’s cheaper, it’s filling, and it’s easy to prepare.

In the past, during the summer, we’d go for a walk and get ice cream from a local shop in our neighbourhood, which would cost $8 or $10. These days, I’ll buy a box of eight Chapman ice cream bars for $5 so that we can have dessert at home.

It’s not just lower-income people who are being affected by inflation. Technically, I’m middle class. I have a good job and a good salary. And yet we’re just getting by. If the cost of living continues to increase, we’ll have to make more sacrifices, or I might start price matching with grocery store flyers, which I’ve never done before. I’m grateful to own a home and that my family never has to go hungry. But I am worried about expenses going up even more—especially my mortgage. — As told to Andrea Yu

***

“Every week a non-profit gives us a hamper of fruit and vegetables, bread, toilet paper and diapers.” (Photo by Mackenzie Walker)

ChingYun Chien:I moved from Taiwan to Vancouver in 2017 to study customer service at Greystone College. In 2018, I met Vance, and we married the following year. I worked as a travel agent, and he worked as a construction labourer. We could only just afford our expenses every month, but we never went into debt. We paid $1,400 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

When COVID hit, I lost my job, and our daughter was born in March of 2021. Suddenly, we were paying an additional $100 each month on formula and diapers. Thankfully we got things like furniture, clothes and toys for free through a local moms’ group. The Canada child benefit also helped us cover the new expenses, but it still wasn’t enough. I learned about CityReach, a non-profit in Vancouver that offers food and supplies for families. I started going there in the summer of 2021, when my daughter was three months old. Every week, they give us a hamper stocked with fruit and vegetables, bread, canned items, vitamins, toilet paper and diapers. It helps us save about $40 to $50 every week. I’m not sure what we’d do without them. We’ll continue to get their hampers until my daughter gets into a daycare and I can go back to work.

Everything is going up except our income, and I’m shopping differently now. I used to buy brand-name items for things like jam, but now I’ll choose the no-name brand to save money. I’ll buy meat in bigger packs because it’s cheaper and freeze the extra portions. I’ve learned that if I bought a single beef steak, it would probably cost $10 a piece. But I buy a large club-sized cut of beef for $30 and can cut it myself into five or six steaks to save money. I also buy club-sized packs of Italian sausages to save money. When something is on sale, I’ll stock up on it. We never used to do that before. I buy Asian groceries at T&T, and other items at Superstore or Walmart. It can be exhausting to go to two or sometimes three places to buy groceries, but I know I can save some money doing that.

If I know my friends are going to Costco, I’ll ask them to buy some items for me. For $12, you can get a wheel of brie there that’s double the size but the same price as the brie from Superstore. Often we’ll buy a big pack of something, like croissants, and split it between us. My husband loves sweets, so sometimes I buy some Twix chocolate bars from Superstore or Walmart, but only if I have extra money. If I’m over my budget, then he doesn’t get any chocolate that week.

In the spring of 2022, my husband started working every second Saturday so he could earn more money. He’s tired all the time. We still like to do fun things with our daughter, like drive to North Vancouver to go on a hike and have a picnic. Even that’s difficult now that gas prices are so high.

I started applying to daycare waitlists when my daughter was three months old. A year later, we’re still waiting for a spot. I can’t go back to work until we can get her in somewhere. I hope to find a job as a garment purchaser, which is what I did back in Taiwan. Hopefully, when I start working again, our family’s finances will be less stressful.

— As told to Andrea Yu

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post The Food Diaries: Vancouver appeared first on Macleans.ca.

With the rising costs of nearly everything, Canadians are particularly feeling the pinch when it comes to rising food costs across the country, further fuelling a food insecurity crisis being experienced by many throughout the nation. Here, Him Chu, a real estate analyst living in Edmonton, Alberta, shares how he manages to feed his family after moving from Hong Kong to Edmonton earlier this year

Until recently, I lived in Hong Kong with my mom and dad in a two-bedroom apartment. My parents, who are in their 60s, recently retired, so now I’m responsible for supporting them. In April of 2022, we decided to leave Hong Kong because it was getting too expensive. I applied for jobs across Canada and got one working as a real estate analyst for a consulting company. I assess all types of properties, from agricultural to residential, high rises to bungalows.

We live in a two-bedroom apartment in Edmonton. The rent here is much cheaper—we pay $1,300 a month, compared to the equivalent of $2,100 in Hong Kong. And my income is about the same as it was in Hong Kong. But we were really surprised about the cost of groceries. I noticed that the price of beef has gone up by 10 to 15 per cent. Snacks are more expensive too. A bag of Lays used to cost under $3, and now it’s up by a dollar.

I do most of our grocery shopping at Save-On-Foods and T&T. I spend about $100 a week. I don’t go in with a list—I look for yellow stickers on packaged vegetable items because that means they need to be sold within the day. They’re 50 per cent off, so a pack of bok choy that’s usually $1.99 a pound will be $1. We don’t buy meat very often these days; when we do, it’s cheap meat, like sausages. I can’t remember the last time I bought a steak. I’ll pick up the package, check the price and turn away because it’s so expensive: sometimes more than $20 for one steak. I wish I could buy it. Maybe if I can earn some more money and work harder, I can eat better. My mom does most of the cooking, and she’s pretty creative about making meals with whatever I’m able to buy.

I try to buy groceries on monthly customer appreciation days, when I can get a 15 per cent discount, which saves me about $30. I’ll also go to the grocery store one hour before closing in order to get discounted items, like baked goods—for example, a pack of 12 muffins that would normally cost $4 would be marked down to 50 per cent off. I have to use a credit card to buy groceries because I often don’t have enough cash. Some months I ask friends back in Hong Kong to transfer me money to help pay the bills. I’ve borrowed about $500 so far.

I feel lucky that I’m able to maintain my income and my career in Canada, because immigrants often have to accept lower wages or change their line of work. I got a second job doing general labour for a construction company twice a week so I can earn some extra income. But I’m not sure how long we’ll stay in Canada. After a few years, we might move to Thailand or Taiwan, where the cost of living is cheaper.

Hot dogs were on sale last week. They usually cost $11 or $12 but were on sale for $8. I ate them with instant noodles for my lunch. Some days I just eat fruit for lunch so I can keep my budget low. I like chips and chocolate bars, but sometimes I feel guilty about buying that stuff because it doesn’t fill you up like a meal. I should be spending my money on something healthy. — As told to Andrea Yu

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post The Food Diaries: Groceries on a budget in Edmonton appeared first on Macleans.ca.

While food banks are a valuable resource for those in need, families and individuals often feel embarrassed or stigmatized when using them. Healthy food options at food banks can also be limited, especially when it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables. A 2021 online survey found that food-insecure respondents were two to three times more likely to consume less fruit and vegetables since the beginning of the pandemic. Food-insecure respondents were also more likely to say that cost was a barrier to eating fruit and vegetables more often. 

Food stamp programs—where people in need are given vouchers or prepaid debit cards to purchase food at grocery stores—aren’t new, especially in the U.S. with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But here in Canada, several regions have been experimenting with a new concept focused on local markets. In British Columbia, the Farmers’ Market Nutrition Coupon Program began in 2007 as a pilot project and has been funded by its provincial Ministry of Health since 2012. In June 2020, Carrefour Solidaire, a community food organization based in Montreal, introduced a similar program using a prepaid debit card called Carte Proximité which participants use to purchase local food at community markets. 

The idea: Creating a prepaid debit card system for food-insecure individuals and families to purchase fresh food at local markets. 

How it works: Carte Proximité runs from July to October. People in need receive them from community organizations in their neighbourhood, with funds ranging from $25 to $100, depending on the size of their household. The cards can be used at one of 13 participating markets in Montreal, most of which are operated by community organizations that promote and encourage food accessibility for people in low-income brackets. While fresh fruit and vegetables are the focus of these markets, the Carte Proximité can also be used to purchase local meat, eggs and dairy. The cards are reloaded every month while in operation. 

Naomi Bénéteau Goldberg, coordinator of Carte Proximité, says that the program allows food insecure individuals in Montreal to access fresh food in a dignified manner. “People can choose their own products instead of going to a food bank where people don’t really have much choice about what they get,” she explains. The prepaid debit system also has an advantage over physical food stamps. “When folks are using paper food coupons, it can sometimes be embarrassing. But everyone uses debit and credit cards so no one really knows what the difference is with this card.” 

Since the program started, participants have reported a 17 per cent reduction in severe food insecurity. The proportion of fruit and vegetables that participants were able to consume fresh increased from 82 per cent to 92 per cent. Local produce is often fresher and more nutritious than imported options and programs like Carte Proximité allow low-income and food-insecure people to access higher-quality foods. “Everybody deserves to buy the quality and quantity of food that they need and want,” explains Bénéteau Goldberg.

There are also a host of added benefits associated with a program like Carte Proximité. By partnering with markets that sell local food, the program supports nearby farmers instead of grocery chains. Connections between people in need and organizations that can support them are also fostered through the program. “This is a way for the community organizations to build stronger relationships with folks who are living with food insecurity or who are low-income,” Bénéteau Goldberg says. Participants can learn about free meal programs or cooking workshops. Or perhaps they’ll have a meaningful conversation with a market organizer. “A lot of the community members that we work with are very isolated. Another big goal of this program is to break through that isolation.” 

The big picture: In its first two years of operation, Carte Proximité distributed over $327,000 via 1,360 cards, reaching close to 4,000 people. The program is funded by the Government of Quebec, the City of Montreal and private institutions such as the Fondation Lucie et André Chagnon. But Bénéteau Goldberg says that demand always exceeds the cards available for distribution. “We would really like the government of Quebec to pass a policy on food stamps, pick up this program and run it themselves,” she says. 

In April 2021, B.C. MP Gord Johns brought forth a petition for the federal government to match funding for provinces with existing market food stamp programs while also encouraging provinces without a program to create one.

“A national food stamp program that allows folks to purchase local foods directly from small-scale farmers in each part of the country could have a major positive impact on our local food system,” Bénéteau Goldberg says. “If every food insecure person living in Canada could get access to food stamps with amounts that increase yearly with inflation, this could make a real difference in the lives of millions of people living in Canada.” 

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post How food stamp programs at local markets are improving access to fresh foods appeared first on Macleans.ca.

Much like the steep price of gas and rising rents, the story of food inflation has made headlines in recent months. As the price of food soars and the cost of many food staples continues to grow, it has contributed to the already-rampant issue of food insecurity on the rise across Canada. Below, we look at the staggering numbers behind a crisis affecting millions:

7 million

The number of Canadians struggling with food insecurity

According to Food Banks Canada, 7 million Canadians reported going hungry at least once between March 2020 and 2022—that’s more than one in five people across the country. The survey also found that 23 per cent of Canadians reported eating less than they needed to because they did not have enough money for groceries. 

8.8 per cent

The increase in cost of food

According to Statistics Canada, the rate of consumer inflation rose to 8.1 per cent in June, with food and grocery costs rising 8.8 per cent—the largest year over year increase since January 1983. 

20 per cent

Increase in food bank visits during the pandemic

In March 2021, visits to Canadian food banks reached levels not seen since the 2008 recession. According to Food Banks Canada, one third of people accessing food banks were children. 

70

The percentage of Nunavut residents experiencing food insecurity

Approximately 70 per cent of Inuit homes in Nunavut are food insecure. The household food insecurity rate is eight times over the national average, with exorbitant grocery prices largely to blame. Cases of water in Iqaluit have been priced as high as $29.99—additionally problematic given the area’s numerous boil water advisories. (Last year, one do-not-consume order lasted nearly two months after a fuel contamination accident.) 

8.7

Percentage of food bank users who are seniors

Seniors represent 8.7 per cent of Canadians who regularly visit food banks. According to Food Banks Canada, their increase rate significantly outpaces other groups. 

3 times

The likelihood of food insecurity among disabled individuals compared to non-disabled individuals

A 2021 University of Toronto study found that 65 per cent of respondents whose primary income was ​​the Ontario Disability Support Program or Canadian Pension Plan were food insecure. Other studies have shown people with disabilities to be three times more likely to face food insecurity than those without disabilities. 

24th

Canada’s global affordability ranking

In 2019, Canada’s food affordability was ranked 18th in the world. In 2021, Canada dropped to 24th, according to the Global Food Security Index. 

5 to 7 per cent

The expected increase for the rest of the year

Canada’s Food Price Report, an annual study published by four Canadian universities, predicts that overall food prices will continue to rise, with the cost of dairy expected to increase as much as 8 per cent, fruit as much as 5 per cent, vegetables as much as 7 per cent and restaurant prices as much as 8 per cent. According to the report, the average family will have to spend $966 more on groceries than last year. 

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post Canadian food insecurity by the numbers appeared first on Macleans.ca.

As inflation hits all areas of spending, Canadians say that food prices are where they’re hit the hardest. From May 2021 to May 2022, the price of food rose by 9.7 per cent. And in a survey conducted by Statistics Canada in April, 43 per cent of respondents said rising food prices impacted them the most in the past six months, followed by rising transportation prices, at 32 percent.

Basic food staples were up across the board in May 2022, from fresh fruit (+10 per cent) to meat (+10.1 per cent) and fresh vegetables (+8.2 per cent). While planting vegetables in your backyard allows people to grow their own source of food (along with the well-being benefits of tending to a garden) sources of complex protein are harder to come by. That’s where backyard hens come into play. Hens lay an average of one egg a day for 200 to 250 days out of the year. They’re a reliable source of fresh protein with little upfront and ongoing cost.

As the price of groceries increases, growing one’s own food can be a powerful tool to affordably feed households and make cities more food secure. Backyard hens can be a part of this strategy.

The idea: Supporting urban food security by allowing citizens to raise egg-laying hens in their backyards.

How it works: Over the past decade, cities across Canada have been piloting urban hen programs. Saint John was the first city in the Maritimes to allow homeowners to keep chickens, in 2013, while Toronto’s UrbanHensTO pilot began five years later. Vancouver and Calgary began permitting for backyard hens in 2022, although Calgary, which recently did the same, has limited its program to 100 applicants for the first year.

Rules vary by city, but hen-keepers typically need to apply for a permit or to register their hens. Vancouver allows a maximum of four hens, while Calgary stipulates a minimum of two and a maximum of four, since hens should be part of a flock. Bylaws also cover the size of enclosures, along with doors that can be locked at night to protect them from predators, like coyotes.

Paul Hughes, executive director of Grow Calgary, a non-profit community farm, has long been a proponent of urban chickens. “They are a very good fit in an urban environment because of their size and how easy it is to feed them very simple table scraps,” Hughes explains, which helps to reduce household waste. Alternatively, he says a $10 bag of feed supports three hens for two months. Enclosures can run the gamut of costs, but Hughes built his from scrap materials. The hens themselves are cheap too, costing about $10 each for a standard laying hen, and up to $50 or more for heritage varieties that lays eggs in unconventional colours.

There are, however, opponents to the movement, citing concerns over cleanliness, hygiene and noise. The town of Tecumseh, in southwestern Ontario, discontinued its two-year urban hens pilot program in March 2022 due to complaints that hen coops attracted rodents. But Hughes says mice and rats are prevalent in urban settings and the presence of chickens is not a significant factor in their proliferation. While chickens are susceptible to avian flus, the segregated nature of backyard flocks makes it easy to identify and isolate problems to prevent the spread of disease.

As for noise complaints, Hughes reminds us that it’s roosters that crow, not hens, which is why most urban chicken programs don’t permit roosters. “Hens are very, very quiet,” he says. “They will make a tiny bit of noise when they’re having an egg because they’re very proud. That’s their big event for the day.”

The big picture: Urban hens aren’t the only solution to feeding cities, but they can be part of it. “Our food security in Canada is so low,” Hughes explains. “Every little initiative will add considerably to our capacity to feed ourselves. Families that choose to have hens will improve their household food security.” Hughes believes that cities can and should do more to encourage citizens to raise chickens through municipal campaigns, similar to recycling campaigns. “[Cities can] promote hens as a way to reduce organic waste and as a way to access nutritious food,” he says.

Much like cities offer free compost for gardens, cities could also subsidize materials required to raise hens as an incentive—or subsidize the hens themselves. In 2010, the town of Mouscron, in Belgium, gave away 50 pairs of chickens as a means of waste management and egg production.

As a bonus, Hughes reminds us of the emotional support that hens provide. “We call them pets with pets of benefits,” he says. “A dog gives you nothing back. A cat gives you nothing back. But a chicken gives you an egg.”

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post How urban hens can help cities become food secure appeared first on Macleans.ca.

The buyer: Craig Mazzali, a 45 year-old bike courier in Toronto.

The story: I work as a bike courier for two delivery apps. I work six days a week, about six or seven hours a day. I take Mondays off since people are usually spent from the weekend and aren’t ordering as much. I earn about $800 to $1,200 a month.

My job becomes kind of dangerous in the wintertime. There are certain days, when it’s really snowy or cold, where it’s just not worth it, so I don’t work as much. But sometimes I have to actually work in really bad weather in order to make better money because they’ll pay us more, like three to five dollars extra per order, which is fantastic. But it’s not a pleasant experience at all. Before the pandemic I would get cash tips, but that’s not so popular anymore. Some people tip through the app, but I fear that tipping is going to disappear.

I live in a rooming house in Kensington Market, in Toronto. I have five other roommates. I spend about $60 to $70 on groceries a week. I shop at FreshCo, a discount grocery store, and at the independent grocers in Kensington Market. I usually make pasta dishes and bean tortillas. If I’m having a good week and I’ve earned more money, I’ll buy some meat, like steak or salmon. Otherwise, I’m eating vegetarian.

When you’re a bike courier, food is very important. If you’re not eating properly, it’s a struggle to work. When the pandemic hit, I noticed that the prices of food went up. I couldn’t buy as much as I used to on my grocery budget. I’ve been relying more on my sister to lend me money or buy meals for me. It’s embarrassing, and stressful as well because then it’s another struggle to pay her back and also support myself. 

I end up skipping meals two or three times a week. There are drop-in centres that offer free meals. Sometimes I go there, but I see the food and I just can’t stomach it. It’s things like sausages and eggs. Eating that doesn’t make me feel good. Maybe it’s better that I just cram it down my throat, but I can’t do it. It makes me feel ill. 

Facebook mutual aid groups have also been a big help. I’ll go there a few times a month to get food. People will post extra meals or pantry items that they’re offering for free. Or I’ll post in the group asking for help with food donations or money. If it’s a bad month, I might be asking my sister for help once or twice a week. If I’m really stuck, I’ll skip meals, or I don’t eat at all, because I don’t have enough food. Since the pandemic, my diet has been very poor.

—As told to Andrea Yu

Weekly grocery shopping list: 

Steel cut oats: $5
Bread: $4
Cheese: $7
Lemon: $0.69
Garlic: $2.45
Spinach: $4
Broccoli: $2.50
Cheese: $7
NY striploin: $9
Tortillas: $7
Pasta: $2.49
Refried black beans: $6
Tomatoes: $3.49

Total: $60.62

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post The Cost: One week of groceries in Toronto’s Kensington Market appeared first on Macleans.ca.

Not being able to purchase nutritious food is just one more way being squeezed financially impacts your health. About one in 10 Canadians had difficulty buying food regularly during the second wave of the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada data, while a study from Food Banks Canada showed food bank visits were up 20 per cent when comparing data from 2021 and 2019. And the cost of food is forecasted to keep rising—a report from Dalhousie University estimates Canadians will see prices go up by five to seven per cent this year. 

There likely are, and will be, unfortunate spillover effects of this—how well you eat impacts how well you feel. “Food insecurity can affect everything from cognitive development to anxiety to diabetes, throughout all age categories,” says Dr. Andrew Boozary, who leads the Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine Innovation at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto. The UHN has created a pilot project to help get food boxes to those who need them most, but Dr. Boozary is clear on what the actual problem is: “People do not have the income to be able to afford nutritious food.”

The Idea: Making nutritious food available for those who have the most difficulty accessing it by providing them with a “prescription” for healthy food delivery. 

How it works: Food Rx is a partnership between UHN and FoodShare to deliver a box of fresh fruits and vegetables every two weeks. What’s in the box varies by week and season (one box in June, for instance, contains bananas, peaches, kale, grape tomatoes, and a rutabaga). 

Since launching in 2021, the pilot program has reached 206 participants, which include those who live in government-assisted housing, receive social assistance, face financial barriers to accessing good food, and have been impacted by COVID-19. Participants are surveyed regularly, and preliminary results showed that, three months into the program, there was an increased sense of connection and a higher level of quality of life reported, while self-reported levels of physical and mental well-being also improved. 

“We’ve heard from communities again and again that access to nutritious food matters,” says Dr. Boozary. Programs like these directly address what people want and need, he adds, creating a shift from asking patients, what’s the matter with you? to asking what matters to you?

“The argument is actually that we have to deliver health care fundamentally differently,” says Dr. Boozary. “ We need different partnerships in delivering healthcare to be able to integrate social factors that we know have such a massive impact on people’s health outcomes.” 

The big picture: Dr. Boozary says while of course nutritious food improves health outcomes, this program isn’t a silver bullet—it’s an emergency response to failing social systems. 

“We want to do everything we can to address things that we know are driving people into emergency departments and the acute care sector,” he says, adding that he’s mindful of working with partners who know their communities best to avoid hospital overreach. 

But he’s clear that a food delivery program can’t simply be scaled up to solve a much more complex problem: “This is not a sustainable response, and it’s not one that I think we can see as a replacement for the real work that needs to be done.”

Part of what needs to be done is approaching these issues differently in the healthcare sector. He uses the example of someone making the decision between paying for food or paying for medication—when the prescription isn’t renewed because the patient had to choose a basic need, they are labelled non-compliant by their doctor or nurse. “Let’s push back on the way that we try to silo our approaches to thinking about that person’s health,” Boozary says. “It’s not about that person being non-compliant—we have systems that are failing that patient.” 

What is ultimately needed, he argues, is an “upstream” policy response addressing issues like minimum wage, raising levels of social assistance, providing pharmacare, and other supports, given the reality of the affordability crisis Canadians are facing across the country. “Both in the health and social sectors, we’re staring right at a massive wave of suffering that is completely human-designed by us failing to act on the policies that we’ve long-known we’ve needed.”

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post The idea: FoodRX, the prescribed food delivery program appeared first on Macleans.ca.

It’s difficult to imagine a more crucial and emotionally freighted product than baby formula, which is critical for infants who are too young for solid food or cow’s milk, have special nutritional needs, and for whom breastfeeding isn’t an option. In recent months, infant formula shortages have left American store shelves bare and parents scrambling. Similar issues are beginning to be felt in Canada, where we source our formula mainly from the U.S., from three companies—Abbott, Nestle, and Mead Johnson—that have roughly 90 per cent of the market share. 

The baby formula shortage has been making headlines in recent months. In February, an Abbott production facility in Michigan was forced to close its doors when two children died as a result from bacterial infection at the plant. Factor in longer-term supply issues stemming from the pandemic and reduced stock in the supply chain has turned a critical item into a scarcity. 

But the problem of infant food insecurity has been a longstanding issue for countless Canadians, says Dr. Lesley Frank, Canada Research Chair in food, health and social justice at Acadia University and author of Out of Milk: Infant food insecurity in a rich nation. 

As Canadians turn to any means necessary to source baby formula—including social media—there’s one source growing in need: infant food banks, where communities band together to provide critical stop-gap solutions to a pressing issue. 

The idea: Infant food banks specifically for baby formula and other early child nutritional needs.

How it works: Canadian food banks are already an important resource for families. In 2021 alone children accounted for more than 434,000 visits to food banks across the country. 

In order to meet their child’s nutritional needs, which Frank points out happen to be far greater during the first 1000 days than at any other point in life, unfettered access to formula during the earlies months and years is essential. Specially-focused donation and distribution centres are one way to make this a reality. 

“Infant food banks,” says Frank, “are specifically suited around baby needs like formula.” They are volunteer and community-led initiatives that ensure a supply of necessary baby foods— Sudbury, Ontario’s Pregnancy Care Centre & Infant Food Bank, for example, has been around since 1996 and relies mainly on formula donations from the public. Above all, the success of infant food banks are based on the generosity and resourcefulness of a community. 

For essential items like formula—for which there is often no nutritional substitute—establishing more food banks geared toward mothers of infants can help link infants to food sources during unforeseen shortages like we are currently experiencing.  

The big picture: The presence of infant food banks would certainly help parents access formula during periods of shortages like this. But it’s a band-aid solution to a far greater problem. 

“The community is responding because nobody else has,” says Frank, who authored a paper titled Finding formula: Community-based organizational responses to infant formula needs due to household food insecurity. “Canada has not acknowledged the issue, or had any response to the issue.”

The U.S. manufacturers that Canada relies upon are beginning to return to normal levels of production and the supply is expected to be replenished soon enough. But that will still leave countless numbers of Canadians and single mothers challenged by infant food insecurity—a problem that Frank argues will continue to persist so long as greater economic measures are taken to support mothers of infants.

“The fact that there are infant food banks in Canada—that they even exist—is a signal to the fact that we have a serious problem in this country.” Frank calls infant food banks “the most downstream solution you could find. So I would be looking for upstream solutions that are about economic security for families.” 

The notion of economic supports for parents and new families is hardly unheard of. The Canada child benefit (CCB), for example, provides monthly payments to eligible parents. But Frank would like to see more enhanced supports tailored to those earliest years in order to help reduce the barriers to infant formula for all Canadians.

In Newfoundland, for example, there exists a nutrition-focused benefit attached to the CCB. Other countries, she notes, have gone down pathways surrounding access-to-food issues. In the United States, for example, the government provides food stamps, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides foods like formula. (Fun fact for your next trivia night: The U.S. government is actually the biggest purchaser of infant formula in the world). 

But Frank argues that no matter the supply status—which has only exacerbated the problem—too many Canadians are struggling to meet their infant’s basic needs. In an extensive 2020 study she conducted across Nova Scotia, Frank concluded that “minimum wage and income security programs are inadequate for the purchase of a basic nutritious diet through the prenatal, perinatal, and early infancy periods…emphasizing the risk of food insecurity as a critical issue for young families facing income constraints.” 

“What I would like to see,” says Frank, “ is people have livable wages, adequate maternity leave and access to maternity leave in order to be able to actually do the labour that’s required to feed your baby— because it is labour, whether you’re breastfeeding or not.” 

This story is part of a series on food insecurity in Canada funded by the Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security, in partnership with Community Food Centres Canada.

The post How to solve the baby formula and infant food insecurity crisis in Canada appeared first on Macleans.ca.