Canada-Wide, Central

Have food banks reached their best before date?

A panel of experts at Thursday’s York Region Food Network annual general meeting is leaning to the affirmative.

“We hear from people living on low income that food banks play a role in helping them stretch their small budgets,” network executive director Joan Stonehocker said. “However, after three decades, food insecurity continues to be a problem.”

Food banks are not the answer and are likely diverting valuable public support away from real solutions to this complex problem, she said.

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British Columbia, Canada-Wide, Central, Far North, Maritimes, Prairies

Most Canadian provinces are not providing people on social assistance enough money to buy food for a healthy diet, and that will be costly in the long-term, say poverty experts.

Governments will end up paying the price for the health and social problems created by not providing people on social assistance with the money they need for a healthy diet, says professor Valerie Tarasuk. (CBC)

“I think it’s nuts,” says University of Toronto nutritional sciences professor Valerie Tarasuk.

Particularly for the young, said Tarasuk, a poor diet will lead to problems governments will end up paying for.

“To have somebody who grows up and develops chronic conditions like asthma or depression, things that will need treatment for the rest of those kids lives, to have them not perform well in school and therefore not be able to move effectively into the job market,” she said.

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Canada-Wide, Central

Hunger is on the rise in Kincardine, according to a recent study by the United Way of Bruce and Grey.

The United Way hosted a food bank summit last Thursday at the Grey Bruce Health Unit with regional agencies, including the Salvation Army, and food banks to address the growing issue of hunger and poverty in the region. According to a study compiled by the United Way, the 2013 Hunger Report, food bank visits were up by 47 per cent overall across the coverage area from 2011 to 2013, from 9,215 to 13,518. Not only that, the number of food banks in the area grew from 14 to 20

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Canada-Wide, Central

The biggest takeaway message for me came from Dr. Lynn McIntyre, Professor at the University of Calgary, who went through the history of how food insecurity has been framed in Canada –looking at the unique contribution of nutrition professionals. 1996 marked the beginning of Canada’s commitment to food insecurity, and it was constructed as an income and social issue – We were on the right path! However, a whole bunch of other issues began to get mixed into the problem of food insecurity (a research term called conflation) – which actually made us lose sight of the root cause and focus on the issues that were easiest to solve. McIntyre believes that child feeding programs (like school breakfast programs) and food banks were the first wedge in killing the child poverty reduction movement. Now, food literacy is a hot topic being thrown into this bag of issues too, moving us farther from the real solution. This caused some discomfort in the room – we believe in the importance of food banks, child feeding programs, food literacy programs etc., and know about the great work and benefits of these programs. The problem is not these programs though, we have every reason to continue with these – McIntyre says “Just don’t do it because of food insecurity and hungry kids.” We need to recognize the importance of these programs, while also recognizing that it is not solving the root problem – poverty.

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