Alarming, record-breaking numbers from Food Banks Canada show massive increase in Albertans needing help

Each year in March, Food Banks Canada compiles statistics from its member food banks across the country. Putting the data together allows Food Banks Canada to see a map of how people are served and at what rate. Questions were also posed in survey form to people who use the food bank, giving insight. The document they create with the information is called The Hunger Count.

Last month, the data was made public and shared across the Food Banks Canada system. Lori Coffey, Whitecourt’s Food Bank Director, said that when she started going through the compilation, she was utterly shocked at what she saw. “There were nearly 1.5 million visits to Canadian food banks in March. That’s the highest usage ever on record for Food Banks Canada. That’s in one month!”

The data also points to who is using food banks most. “Of those 1.5 million visits, one-third of those are children. That’s a lot of kids, half a million,” said Coffey. The Hunger Count stated, “while the percentage of children accessing food bank services continues to slowly decline, children, who represent approximately 20 percent of the general population, are still greatly overrepresented.”

Typically, the state of the economy is measured through things like unemployment numbers. A country, or province, with low unemployment, would be assumed to have lower food bank usage, but that is not the case anymore. The data showed that for the first time, Food Banks Canada saw a significant increase in the number of food bank clients reporting employment as their primary source of income. Clients were less likely to cite unemployment as the main reason they were accessing a food bank compared to last year but were just as likely to cite “low wages or not enough hours” as the reason they needed support.

Since 2019, data shows that food bank visits have skyrocketed. Between 2019 and 2022, there was a 35 percent increase in usage. That’s the highest year-over-year increase since the 2008 recession. Those who took part in the survey said the three main reasons they were accessing the food bank were high food costs, low provincial social assistance rates, and housing costs. The rising costs of home heating through the winter will undoubtedly add to the struggle.

“They asked people if they were eating less because they felt there wasn’t enough money in their household or if they were hungry and didn’t eat because there wasn’t enough food. Twenty-four percent said yes. So, not only are there so many food bank visits, but people are not eating or are eating less because they have to. Even though the food bank does so much, it’s still not enough. But we can only do so much. We feed so many people out of this little place,” said Coffey.

Another big piece of the data is where Alberta fell on the provincial list of food bank usage. “This is the second year that Alberta sits closer to the top. We normally sit around seven or eight out of the provinces and territories,” said Coffey.

Technically sitting in fourth, behind BC, Ontario and Quebec, Alberta sits even higher depending on how you read the data. If only measured by the number of total visits, Alberta is fourth. But, the picture changes if you consider the number of food banks supporting those visits. “Quebec had half a million visits, but they also have 803 food banks facilitating those visits. Here in Alberta, we had 155,000 visits, but we only have 142 food banks. We have fewer food banks servicing more people if you compare those numbers. It’s astronomical,” said Coffey.

Another big difference is the percentage change in total visits, meaning the difference between visits last year and this year. Quebec only had a four percent change from 2021 to 2022. Alberta had a 34 percent increase. “To have a rise of 34 percent in one year is mind-blowing. That has never, ever happened before. Never!” Typically, Alberta would see around 30,000 visitors, so jumping to 155,000 is unheard of.

In Alberta, the most served age group is children under 18. Next is adults between 31-64, with those 31-44 edging out the higher ages just slightly. Of those numbers, the most typical client of a food bank is single people (41.4 percent), followed by two-parent families (23.5 percent) and single parents (21.4 percent).

One of the programs that the Whitecourt Food Bank offers are perishable boxes. Supported by the multi-weekday deliveries from local stores, Coffey and staff create boxes of perishable food items that are handed out several times a week. They used to average 120 boxes a month. Now, they average 400 and have given away as many as 450 in one month. Seventeen years ago, when Coffey first started, they only gave out 30 a month. “The only reason some months are lower, hovering around 400, is because we had fewer boxes to give out, and I have to say no to people.” Coffey thinks the number could rise to 600 a month, and she hopes she has the groceries to fill the need.

Coming into one of the busiest times for food donations, Coffey said she is grateful for the support they receive. “A lot of people put food drives on for us. It’s not me trying to oversaturate the town with fundraisers for the food bank. Its people being so kind and choosing us. Those chunks of donations that come in through those events enable me to hold onto my funds to give us a nest egg towards buying food. As prices for orders keep going up, we will need every cent we have to bring in food. Food drives are a huge help.”

Food Banks Canada is proposing some policy changes to the government. One of the changes they feel needs to happen centres around housing. “If you think about it, back in the sixties, you could survive off one income. With that one income, you could have a mortgage and a car and live decently. There’s absolutely no way that is a reality these days. It takes two people to achieve the same goal now,” explained Coffey. Advocacy to help make housing more affordable will be a focus going forward.