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Ontario's Food Banks Report Alarming Increase This Fall

Toronto, ON (December 2nd, 2008) – A new report released today by the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) revealed that there has been an alarming increase in the number of persons turning to food banks in Ontario since last fall.  Between September 2007 and September 2008, food banks in Ontario have reported an average increase of 13 per cent in the number of neighbours turning to them for support.

“We are now at the leading edge of a very turbulent storm,” said Judy Dancause, Chair of the OAFB and Executive Director of the Agape Centre in Cornwall, Ontario.  “Given that we already serve over 300,000 Ontarians every month, this increase means that tens of thousands of more Ontarians have been forced to turn to food banks in the past year alone.”

Seventy nine per cent of food banks in Ontario reported an increase in the number of persons turning to them for support since last fall.  Although many major centres have witnessed significant growth in demand, the greatest increases have been seen in mid-sized communities that have been hit hard by job losses.  Food banks in communities including Orillia, Lindsay, Cornwall, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, St. Thomas, Stratford, Oshawa, and London have seen their figures spike between 12 and 41 per cent in the last twelve months.  If the current trend continues, it is projected that 350,000 Ontarians will be turning to food banks every month in 2009; an all time high for food bank usage in the province.

“It is in tough economic times that food banks first emerged and saw their greatest growth,” said Adam Spence, Executive Director of the OAFB.  “This snapshot provides the first evidence that this period of economic decline may be very difficult for Ontario’s families and Ontario’s food banks.”

Beyond job losses and overall economic decline, the price of basics like food, energy, and water has risen substantially in the past year, further compounding the pressures that have forced more Ontarians to turn to food banks.  The price of key food items including pasta, bread, baby food, milk, and chicken have all increased at greater than twice the rate of inflation in the past twelve months.  In addition, the average cost for natural gas increased by 31 per cent, and the price of water for household consumption rose by 16 per cent.  The cumulative effect of these increases is very significant.  Since last fall, an average single person would have seen their grocery and utility bills increase by $433, and household bills for a family of three would have gone up by over $800.

Many of Ontario’s food banks are struggling to meet demand.  One in five locations does not have enough food to meet the needs of those they serve. Communities have also surpassed the threshold by which neighbours provide enough food donations to support their local food bank: twenty one per cent of food banks in Ontario must purchase over 40 per cent of their food supply in order to provide for their neighbours in their community.

Given these troubling trends, the Ontario Association of Food Banks is calling on:
• neighbours to support their local food banks this holiday season;
• the provincial government to follow through on its commitment to a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy that includes targets and timelines and long-term policy commitments focusing on housing and community supports, economic security and opportunity, and public responsibility for poverty reduction; and
• the federal government to expand eligibility and benefits for Employment Insurance (EI).

 “We will need the support of both our governments and our neighbours during this difficult period,” said Dancause.  “All Ontarians must make a choice to help reduce hunger and poverty in our province.”

The Ontario Hunger Report is a compilation of data collected through the annual HungerCount survey of Food Banks Canada, a special fall survey of Ontario’s food banks, the annual OAFB member survey, and Statistics Canada datasets.  It is available online at www.oafb.ca.
 
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For further information, contact:
Judy Dancause, Chair, OAFB and Executive Director, Agape Centre Cornwall, Work: 613.938.9297, Mobile: 613.361.0332
Adam Spence, Executive Director, OAFB, Work: 416.656.4100, Mobile: 416.543.0897