Hunger in Canada

Despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, far too many Canadians struggle with hunger and food insecurity. In order to end this problem, we have to have a good understanding of it:

WHAT IS FOOD SECURITY?

 According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Food Security exists when:

“all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”

 Being food secure within Canada’s food system requires the following:

• We need to have access to food we can purchase or grow.

• We need to get to where the food is.

• We need to have enough money to buy it.

• We need to enjoy the food we eat and it has to be culturally acceptable.

• We need food that is produced in a way that sustains our environment.

• We need food that nourishes us and doesn’t jeopardize our health

If any of these requirements were to not exist, Food Insecurity would be the result.

WHAT IS FOOD INSECURITY?

Food insecurity is defined by Health Canada as:

"the inability to acquire or consume an adequate diet of quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so."

The experience of food insecurity can range from

• concern about running out of food before there is additional money to buy more

• inability to afford food the right food to support a balanced diet

• missing meals, or, in extreme cases, not eating for a whole day because of a lack of food and money for food

Food insecurity is often associated with a household's financial ability to access adequate food due to low income levels, poverty, the rising cost of food, geographic isolation and the lack of affordable transportation to get to food sources.

WHAT DOES FOOD INSECURITY LOOK LIKE IN CANADA?

WHAT ARE THE IMPACTS OF FOOD INSECURITY?

ARE FOOD BANKS SOLVING THE PROBLEM?

While food banks are an important part of emergency food relief system, not every community has a food bank, and an estimated 3/4 of households experiencing food insecurity do not use food banks (Tarasuk et al., 2011).

As for those who are forced to access food banks to get the food they need to survive, they often feel diminished by the experience, and leave feeling far from nourished or hopeful. And they are often met with a lack of food choices with which to fulfill their needs for sufficient, healthy and culturally appropriate food.

Although food banks started about three decades ago as a temporary response to a recession, Canadians have now grown accustomed to a permanent charitable food network in Canada, with millions donating to food drives and thousands volunteering to support their local food banks. However, the growth of food banks, combined with the growing problem of household food insecurity, shows that neither food banks nor other community-based approaches are able to adequately address this problem. (Food Banks Canada, 2012)

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT HUNGER & FOOD INSECURITY?

Tackling this problem requires us all to work together and imagine a fairer society. We want to hear from you. Join other Canadians by raising your voice to answer this question:

With hunger in Canada on the rise, what can Canadians do to end it?

RAISE YOUR VOICE!

Meal Exchange takes a holistic approach to answering the question, confirming the role for meeting immediate need through emergency food programs in the short-term but also keeping an eye to longer term solutions like building food skills changing the policies that keep people hungry in the first place:

 

Trick or Eat is an important first step to achieving food security that engages thousands of youth volunteers and 100,000 households in donating to reduce hunger in communities but also raising awareness about the need to address the root causes of food insecurity.

By collecting food and raising our voices together, a socially just food system, where food is affordable, healthy and sustainable, becomes possible!

Raise Your Voice - Volunteer - Organize - Donate - Follow Meal Exchange’s Year-round Work

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The contents of this page, "Hunger in Canada" were collected and condensed using the following published reports:

• Conference Board of Canada – Enough for All: Household Food Security in Canada (2013)

• Food Banks Canada - HungerCount (2012)

• People’s Food Policy – Resetting the Table (2012)

• PROOF Network – Household Food Insecurity in Canada (2011)

• Leslie Brown's - Redesigning Canada's Food System (2008)

And here are some organizations and campaigns working towards a Canada where no one goes hungry:

• Food Secure Canada

• Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada

• The BIG Push: Basic Income Canada Network

• Put Food in the Budget

• Freedom 90: The Union of Food Bank and Emergency Meal Program Volunteers

• Do the Math