High inflation leaves Hamilton parents with an expensive return to school

For Hamilton parent Jen Steeves, getting the kids back to school this week is more expensive than ever.

She's got five kids attending Hess Street Elementary School and worries that related costs might be more than she can afford.

"Groceries are going to be the big thing — five kids in school … and now with school lunches they need more … it's just not always doable with the cost of everything now," Steeves told CBC Hamilton. 

She's not alone. 

"I know one friend who struggles, often needing a helping hand with clothes and food. Another friend of mine relies on food banks to get the family through," she said.

In Thorold, Ont., in the Niagara region, Kizzie Williams is also seeing her daughter back in school this week. She says that with the cost of food, housing and clothing rising, buying new school supplies hasn't been at the top of her list. 

"I'm finding it hard to make ends meet, much less back-to-school necessities tossed in the mix… literally just reusing last year's stuff," she said. 

"I work for the Niagara school board and the students were struggling to the point they were starting to dislike school."

In July, Canada's inflation rate fell to 7.6 per cent, according to a report in August from Statistics Canada. That was the first time in 12 months that the rate had decreased over the previous month. In June, inflation hit a 39-year high of 8.1 per cent. 

But even with the decrease, "wage growth continues to lag inflation" and it will "be a while" until households can breathe a sigh of relief, economist Tu Nguyen said last month.

As a result, inflation continues to affect families across the province, and back to school has been a struggle for some families when it comes to obtaining the food, clothes and supplies needed.

Disposable income 'a thing of the past'

Food banks, community organizations and other social services in the Hamilton area are doing what they can to help.

On Aug. 27, the Disability Justice Network of Ontario held a BBQ and giveaway in Hamilton's Beasley Park, providing school supplies such as notebooks to community members.

Wesley Urban Ministries's Annual Knapsack Drive was expecting to provide 450 backpacks for families in need this year.

A similar program run by the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre on Ottawa Street was expecting to give 340 children backpacks filled with supplies last week. 

Also last week, the Hamilton Steelworker's annual Operation Backpack raised $64,000 to fill 2,000 backpacks with supplies for children across Hamilton, London and Simcoe — a big jump from the 92 backpacks the initiative filled in its first year 12 years ago. 

"With the high interest and inflation rates, there's no disposable income anymore. That's a thing of the past for many people," said Darren Green, president of the Hamilton Steelworkers Area Council.

Volunteers with that initiative began packing backpacks at the United Steelworkers Centre on Barton Street last Wednesday.

"Every year that we go to a school … the teachers and principals tell us that the need is there, there's just not enough bags and they need more," Green said.