City council in Brockville, Ont. declared a food insecurity emergency after a unanimous vote last week. Food insecurity is defined as inadequate access to sufficient quality food due to financial constraints. Demand at the Brockville and Area Food Bank has been skyrocketing in recent years. According to the motion, the food bank reported 21,537 visits in 2024, which includes 5,519 visits for children. Declaring a food insecurity emergency is a way for municipalities to signal to provincial and federal levels of government that the issue of food insecurity is growing. Coun. Cam Wales moved the motion to declare the emergency. The motion reads, in part, “…the Provincial and Federal Governments act to address the causes of food insecurity, including income levels, housing affordability and food costs.” “We’re trying to highlight that food insecurity is something that people in our community face every day,” Wales said. “This is a critical issue, and it’s certainly reached, I would say, an emergency level.” Amanda Petch has been the General Manager of the food bank since 2023. She tells CTV News Ottawa that when she started, an average of about 1,100 people visited every month. That number has risen to an average of 2,000 per month in just two years. “It’s just continuing to grow,” said Petch. “We can’t continue on this way. Charities are not the ones who are supposed to be filling that gap.” Officials cite high cost of living as the main reason for the exponential increase in visits but the clientele is also changing. According to Petch, more people with full-time jobs are relying on the food bank’s services than ever before. “That’s something that we’re seeing more of, people who are working, who can’t make ends meet because rent has gone up or bills and things like that have gone up,” she said. “What it basically comes down to is that we need support. Because by the time someone’s coming into the food bank, they’ve probably skipped a meal or two.” Food insecurity emergencies have been declared in other eastern Ontario municipalities this year. The town of Smiths Falls, Ont. declared one in May, after their average monthly food bank visits increased from 300 to 950 in a span of five years. Kingston, Ont. also declared one in January, citing a 10.2 per cent increase in food hampers given out in 2024 compared to 2023. More details to come.
