With country's inflation rate on the rise, demand on Quebec food banks spikes

Food banks in Quebec already dealing with increased demand from families since the start of the pandemic are struggling to serve the hungry as Canada's inflation rate rises.

According to On Rock community centre in Pierrefonds, which is now serving about 290 families per week, demand for food baskets is up 35 per cent, said president and founder Kim Reid. 

"We see a lot of people registering, people who've never been to the food bank before," he said. "We had one day last week where six families registered. We're registering families on a daily basis. That's pretty unusual compared to the status quo."

The Canada Food Price Report forecasted a food cost increase of five to seven per cent for this coming year, which is the highest increase that's ever been forecasted by the researchers at Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph who publish the annual report. 

That translates into an annual increase of nearly $1,000 for groceries for the average family of four, the report said. 

"As the pandemic is winding down and more people are going back to work, I thought we'd see relief for families, but that doesn't seem to be the case," said Reid.

"The inflation situation seems to be creating a secondary problem."

Kassandra Craven Fisher says the inflation costs for this year are "really astronomical." She works with Table de Quartier Sud de l'Ouest-de-l'Île, a community organization in the south West-Island that supports initiatives aimed at reducing food insecurity in the area.

"That's really the highest inflation that's been seen in at least a decade both in terms of the dollar amount but also percentage wise," she said.

The Consumer Price Index increased at an annual pace of 4.8 per cent in December, Statistics Canada reported in January, with grocery prices up by 5.7 per cent, the biggest annual gain since 2011.

Quebec Food Bank supplies food to 32 food banks and over 1,200 community organizations in the province, and says demand is up 40 to 60 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

"When people have higher rents, when they have to pay more for gas to go to work, when they have to pay more for clothes, for their kids to go to school, by the end of the month their budget is compressed," said executive director Martin Munger.

Despite receiving an extra $9.5 million in emergency money from the federal government in December, he expects funding will run out by March, when they will likely have to start relying more on donations from the public.

"It's very good to have that money, but if I compare what I could buy one year ago to what I can buy right now, it's 7 per cent less food," he said. 

The food distributed through their network is currently reaching more than 700,000 Quebecers, up from roughly 600,000 in March of 2021 and 500,000 pre-pandemic.

Staffing shortages have also added to the struggle, Munger said.