“I think what we first have to do is prioritize food insecurity as a crisis,” said Kirstin Beardsley CEO of Food Banks Canada. The 2026 Hunger Count report conducted by Food Banks Canada paints an ugly picture of food insecurity across Canada. In Ontario, the number of people in need of local food banks has increased 11% year over year, and 150% since 2019. “Just the number of food banks that run out of food before they meet their communities needs and unfortunately, it’s sitting at about a quarter of the food banks,” said Beardsley. The Barrie food bank facilitates 7,700 food visits every month. That’s a five-fold increase over the last five years. “This didn’t happen over night. This is years of mounting pressure,” said Karen Shuh, executive director at the Barrie Food Bank. Shuh says they can see upwards of 500 people on a single day. “Having a job no longer guarantees you that you can put food on your table. So, what we are seeing, is a lot more working people and some of our clients are working multiple jobs and still need the support of a food bank,” she said. It’s the same scene in Orillia. Chris Peacock with the Sharing Place says they have also been flooded with people in need. “We need income solutions, we need housing solutions we need affordability solutions,” said Peacock. “We need to build these strategies, poverty reduction strategies that the province and the municipalities are working on, we need to execute on these strategies.” The new report also finds that about one in five food bank clients across the country are employed. Local food banks say those numbers are only going to increase in the coming years and admit it’s only going to get more difficult to help the increasing number of people in need.
