One-third of food bank users in Canada are kids

HungerCount report shines light on food insecurity among a variety of demographics

CAMBRIDGE — Children make up more than one-third of Canadians relying on food banks, even though they’re only a fifth of the population.

“What is the acceptable number?” asked Cameron Dearlove, executive director of the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank. “If it was proportionate, would that be OK?”

The high number of children depending on donated food was highlighted in the latest report on food bank use in Canada, HungerCount 2018.

In Waterloo Region, 35 per cent of food bank users are children. Food insecurity has “pretty profound” and lasting effects on a child’s well-being, both physically and mentally, Dearlove said.

Each March, Food Banks Canada surveys thousands of food banks to get a snapshot of current food bank use. Canadians visited food banks 1.1 million times in March 2018; there were just shy of 324,000 visits in Ontario.

In Waterloo Region, nearly 35,000 people were served.

“That’s a significant number,” Dearlove said. “It’s far more common to use the food bank than most people would imagine.”

While there’s the perception that food banks help the same people, there’s actually a fair bit of change in clientele. Last year, 43 per cent of people coming to local food banks visited three times or less, while 29 per cent only once.

“There’s a tendency to think it’s the same people all the time, but in fact it is not,” Dearlove said.

Many people are just a paycheque or two away from needing the food bank.

“We’re there in that case, and luckily we are,” Dearlove said.

More than half — 59 per cent — of households list social assistance or disability-related supports as the primary income, according to the report.

Single adult households represent 45 per cent of households accessing food banks, but only account for 28 per cent of Canadian households.

The report calls on the federal government to implement policies related to basic income, affordable child care, increased supports for single adults living with low incomes, and to reduce northern food insecurity.