Alberta food banks say many shelves are bare and the province’s economic slowdown may be to blame.
Among the places experiencing higher demand so far this year is Wood Buffalo, the regional municipality that encompasses Fort McMurray, and is home to many oil and gas operations.
In a statement released by Alberta Food Banks on Tuesday, the Wood Buffalo Food Bank Association reported a “staggering” 57 per cent year-over-year increase in usage in the first six months of 2015.
Executive director Arianna Johnson said that the people who are using the food bank sometimes tell her they have lost their incomes or had difficulty getting employment insurance benefits.
Stephanie Rigby, executive director of Alberta Food Banks, said food banks are “stretched” whenever “the economy slips.”
She said food stocks are especially low right now because the increased demand is coinciding with a dip in donations that typically happens in the summer months.
Sue Methuen, executive assistant at Airdrie Food Bank, told CTV News Channel she has never seen demand so high and supplies so low.
High food prices have caused people to donate less, forcing the food bank to start buying groceries to make up the difference, she said.
Although many of the new clients are families, according to Methuen, some are “people in their early sixties who want to work and haven’t found jobs.”
Bernie Kreiner, president of the Hinton Food Bank Association, said increasing food prices and the high cost of housing “are the factors most at play.”
Food banks in St. Albert and Viking have also reported an increase in the number of needy people.
One apparent exception is Calgary, where the numbers of people seeking help has eased after an influx in demand in early spring, said Shawna Ogston, spokesperson for the Calgary Food Bank.
“However we have seen an increase in the number of times people need help,” Ogston said. “Typically where one hamper was good, people now need two to three to get back on their feet.”
Most food banks are looking for donations in the form of canned vegetables and fruit, canned meats, peanut butter, pasta and sauce, and canned soup or beans, according to Rigby. They also appreciate financial donations.
Alberta’s oil and gas sector has been affected by falling global oil prices. The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors recently forecast a 50 per cent decline in drilling sector jobs in 2015.
Statistics Canada said earlier this month that Alberta’s unemployment rate remained low in June, but that the job market has experienced “virtually no growth” in the first half of the year.
