Food banks were never supposed to be permanent, CEO says

Conceived as a stopgap measure to address unmet needs in some communities, food banks were first implemented on a large scale in Canada in the 1980s.

The country's first food bank opened its doors in Edmonton, where it was meant to provide temporary respite to the city's hungry. It remains in operation to this day.

Decades later, there are more than 5,000 food banks across Canada. Their mission is to "relieve hunger today and prevent hunger tomorrow." 

However, despite their efforts, reliance on food banks grows and they are increasingly providing long-term assistance.

Some anti-poverty advocates are trying to change that trajectory. While the spotlight on food banks often centres around the need for donations, the advocates want to instead shine a light on the people who rely on their assistance.

Matt Noble, executive director of the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank and the "Put Food Banks Out Of Business" campaign, says Canadians shouldn't need food banks to keep people fed and they were never meant to be a permanent fixture.

"Governments have been failing Canadians for far too long, and food banks have been here doing our best to pick up the slack. But the reality is that we shouldn't need to be here," he said.

Noble says the existence of food banks creates the perception that food insecurity in the country is being taken care of, when, according to the most recent available data from Statistics Canada, things are actually getting worse.

Dana Olstad, associate professor of population and public health at the University of Calgary, echoed Noble's sentiment.

"I don't think anybody, including the food banks themselves, actually want food banks to be needed in Canada," Olstad said.

"In a developed country, food banks should not be needed. Everybody should be able to afford to eat three meals a day.… The fact that we have food insecurity in Canada, and that the rates are so high, and that they have been increasing, is a huge concern."

Not enough focus on solving food insecurity

Olstad agreed food banks were never meant to be a permanent response to food insecurity. She says it has become normalized for people — mostly Black and Indigenous Canadians — to rely on food banks.

"That's because the need has not gone away," Olstad said. "It tells us that something is going on in Canada.… People, even people with jobs — and many times good jobs — still don't have enough money to be able to afford food."

Meaghon Reid, executive director of Vibrant Communities Calgary, says Canadian society has placed too much emphasis on donating to food banks — and not enough on the people receiving those donations.

She says charities have done a great job in terms of adapting to demand for food, but they shouldn't have to keep asking for more and more donations each year.

"I think we have to zoom out, though, and look at this system and say, by continuing to fill the gaps and provide these Band-Aids for people, are we letting governments off the hook in terms of making sure that people are fed and have that adequate income to do so?" Reid said.

She says Canadians should think about solutions to food insecurity instead of determining how much food or monetary donations are needed to keep people fed every day.

"What are we doing to make sure that people require these services less frequently?" she said.

The cost of food insecurity

People who depend on food banks have exhausted all other avenues to keep themselves fed, Olstad says. She uses an analogy of someone who has to choose between paying for housing or paying for groceries.

"You can't pay half your rent. So, do you want to eat less or do you want to be on the street?" she said, adding this is often the case.

"That's why food insecurity is actually a really great indicator of poverty in Canada, because it's telling us that more than 20 per cent of our population does not have enough money to be able to afford the basic necessities."

According to Vibrant Communities Calgary, 30 per cent of food bank users in Alberta receive social assistance, and the overwhelming majority of them also receive disability income supports. 

Olstad says social assistance programs are insufficient because they are not giving people in need enough money to afford to eat.

People with food insecurity have higher rates of chronic disease, mental health issues, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, among other conditions, Olstad says. This ends up costing Canada's health-care system more.

"If we could eliminate food insecurity, all those excess health-care costs would decline significantly," she said.

Reid says food insecurity is incredibly costly in Canada, to the tune of more than $80 billion annually, because food insecurity affects the country's health-care system, its criminal justice system, soup kitchens and shelters, which rely on tax dollars to remain operational.

"I think the better solution here is to invest in the right way, which is to make sure people have the food that they need. It is so expensive to keep servicing this problem," she said.

How to eliminate food insecurity in Canada

The centrepiece of the "Put Food Banks Out Of Business" campaign, Noble says, is making sure Canadians have enough money to afford food. 

"That's why [we're] calling for a guaranteed livable basic income, so that no one in Canada can fall below the poverty line," he said. "[It's] the single most impactful policy solution for addressing food insecurity.

"The problem is poverty. People who are food insecure are poor. And it's a simple problem with a simple solution. Poor people need money."

Noble says even if implementing a guaranteed basic income costs about the same as what's being spent now on addressing poverty in Canada, the end result would be thousands of people being lifted above the poverty line.

He adds implementing the policy would not replace major programs like public health care, public education or pharmacare — it would make sure everyone can afford to buy food.

It seems like a simple solution, because people earning minimum wage in major cities often cannot afford to live in those cities.

"It's not a radical idea, it's called basic income for a reason. We're not talking about communism here. We're literally just talking about an income floor so that no one can fall below the poverty line," Noble said.

Olstad agrees that a basic income in Canada would work best. In addition, she says programs like universal child care and pharmacare, among others, would further bolster food security in the country.

Implementing a guaranteed, livable, basic income is a policy that is also supported by Reid.

"We're not going to work ourselves out of food insecurity with more food. The real answer here is more income," she said.

"This is not a luxury, it's a basic need. And I think that we really need to look at that mismatch in the cost of living and what people are making both from employers, but also from income supports."

Noble says people who agree should call or write their MPs and let them know that ending food insecurity in Canada is an important issue to them.

"There's no reason that in a country like Canada we should have people living … below the poverty line and in such deep food insecurity," he said.

The last time a basic income was considered by Canada's government was during Question Period in 2021, at the height of pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While information on basic income was compiled by government, ultimately it decided to continue to monitor research and analysis on the idea, without moving the policy forward.