Why are more Canadians relying on food banks?

Food and goods are sorted to be sent to a food bank at a Metro grocery store In Toronto on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Food banks were first implemented to address dire needs in some communities across Canada. They were originally thought to serve the most vulnerable on a temporary basis, but to this day, there are more than 5,000 food banks across the country, all seeing usage continuing to rise.

At Winnipeg’s Agape Table, general manager Dave Feniuk says it’s getting harder to feed the growing demand.

“We’re still helping the marginalized,” he says. “But now it’s the newcomers, the refugees, but the new sector coming in is the working poor just trying to make ends meet.”

Agape Table is an independent, non-profit organization that is dedicated to feeding Winnipeg’s most vulnerable people.

Feniuk says Agape Table served around 85,000 meals in 2019. In 2024, he said that number over doubled to 173,000 – a number he expects to further rise in 2025.

“There’s a lot of people in need right now,” he says. “We’ve been around for 45 years. I’d love to be out of a job but honestly right now with the times and the way they are going, it’s not possible.”

Robert Lassi has been volunteering at Agape Table for 15 years. The 77-year-old not only helps others, but he also relies on the organization for food.

“It has been a little bit hard, and it’s getting harder,” he says. “When you have to buy food, it makes a difference if I can get a few things here.”

No matter his struggles, Lassi says he will continue to help out at the food bank for as long as he is needed there.

“It helps them a lot when I am here, and I enjoy it.”

Record levels of Canadians relying on food banks: Food Banks Canada

Food banks in Manitoba aren’t the only ones seeing a rise in need. This is a deepening crisis that many non-profits are seeing right across the country.

Data from Food Banks Canada shows there were more than two million food banks visits recorded in March 2024, a 90 per cent increase compared to March 2019.

“Record levels of food insecurity, record numbers of people who have jobs going to food banks, families and children,” says Vince Barletta, the president & CEO of Harvest Manitoba.

Barletta says there are many factors leading to increase reliance on food banks: the COVID-19 pandemic, periods of price inflation, housing affordability crisis and economic challenges.

“We hope all of those issues, including the ones south of the border, with Trump and the tariffs, that issues of affordability and poverty make its way into the campaign,” he says.

“The reality is all food banks across the country are looking to see issues of food security and poverty reduction be front and center as we head into this next federal election.”

Food insecurity should be an issue that is prioritized during the election: food experts

Sylvain Charlebois, a professor and researcher of food distribution and policy at Halifax’s Dalhousie University, hopes this issue doesn’t continue to get overlooked.

“As soon as you have a complicated issue, politicians may not be well equipped or willing to address this issue on stage or during an interview,” says Charlebois.

“It does require some time to explain to the Canadian public what actually is going on here.”

In August 2024, Statistics Canada reported that 45 per cent of Canadians say rising prices greatly impact their ability to meet daily expenses. Charlebois says the high cost of living is what’s driving more Canadians to food banks.

He adds that wages haven’t significantly increased, though they have gone up in 2024.

“But generally speaking, when you have little or no wealth creation in this country, you see more and more people falling behind,” he says. “This is the one conversation that I don’t think we’re having as often as we should because people will look at wages, will look at the price of things and say, ‘listen, we are doing okay.’ But at the end of the day, when you actually have more people coming into our country, you want to make sure that they are equally contributing in a meaningful way.”

He says that neglecting to prioritize these issues ends up costing the Canadian economy, and the agri-food sector ends up paying the price.