High gas prices, inflation increase driving more clients to Metro Vancouver food banks

Inflation driving up demand for food bank Cynthia Boulter, chief operations officer for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, joins CTV's Nafeesa Karim to discuss rising food costs.

With Canada's recent inflation increase and a record-breaking rise in gas prices, a Metro Vancouver food bank says it's seeing a greater demand for its services.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Canada's inflation rate is higher than five per cent and it's driving up the price of almost everything including food and fuel. Cynthia Boulter, with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, told CTV News Vancouver the agency is seeing more clients sign up each month.

"Last year we saw about 400 clients signing up a month and right now it's at about 500, but the sense is on the rise so we're having to adapt to that," Boulter said.

Boulter added that the individual client numbers have reached pre-pandemic levels, which were a peak for the agency, and there's about a 30 per cent increase in the amount of food going to distribution sites.

For community agencies, like women's shelters or school programs, the amount of food being distributed has tripled since 2019, Boulter said.

The agency expects recent rising gas prices will also lead to an increase in clients. Over the weekend, the price at the pump reached an average of 209.9 cents per litre, climbing 23 cents in just four days.

"We expect this will just exacerbate it," Boulter said, adding that the cost of food they need to purchase has gone up for them, just like for everyone else.

"We are budgeting more for food each and every year. It increases our costs for sure, and in fuel, because we have a fleet of very large refrigerated trucks. So we're paying those costs as well."

In spite of the challenges, Boulter said the work the food bank does is very rewarding.

"It's been a long haul for us and our team on the front lines, but we wouldn't have it any other way," Boulter said.

"The gratitude and the joy with parents and seniors when they receive this extra nutrition on top of their weekly allotment always makes everything worthwhile."

Watch the full interview with Cynthia Boulter in the video player above.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim