Food bank visits hit record high at luxury ski town in B.C.

Whistler, B.C., may be best known as a luxury ski destination, but skyrocketing reliance on food banks also shows many of its residents are struggling to afford basic necessities.

"We're just like any other town … mountains don't make us immune to such difficult issues," said Jackie Dickinson, executive director of the Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS), the non-profit that runs Whistler's only food bank program.

According to the WCSS, the number of monthly visitors to the food bank has grown five times since the pandemic began.

Before the pandemic, they had about 250 visitors per month. In October 2022, they saw 1,400 visitors — a record high in the food bank's 30-year history.

As the need for food banks in British Columbia has increased — Food Banks Canada has found a 25 per cent increase in demand between 2021 to 2022, compared to the national average of 15 per cent — the community of Whistler is no exception.

More young families, seniors and seasonal workers are lining up for food at the local food bank, said Dickinson.

"The primary reason people were coming [before the pandemic] were illness and injury," she said.

"Now the primary reason people are coming is the high cost of housing."

The housing challenge is driven by fewer housing options in the area, according to Carole Stretch, executive director of the Whistler Multicultural Society, a service that helps newcomers settle in the community.

"Our own [staff] cannot find housing," she said.

"We have people who've been here 10 to 15 years, they are failing to find housing."

Workers 'survive on savings and credit cards'

The tourist town, about 120 kilometres north of Vancouver, is home to 13,982 people, about 10 per cent of whom are temporary workers, said Stretch.

The increase in seasonal workers at the food bank could be attributed to the town's tourism-based economy, said Fraser Carey, food security co-ordinator at WCSS.

"If the town isn't busy with tourists, people usually get called off their shifts mid-day," said Carey.

He added that the workers he has spoken to — many of whom come to work in Whistler Village and the ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb — attempt "to survive on savings and credit cards" until tourists arrive and work increases.

But food security and housing unaffordability continue well after the tourist season ends and temporary workers leave, said Stretch; it's why she's lost full-time staff.

She said she hopes federal intervention to support small towns like Whistler will bring about much-needed change.

"[The Whistler business model] doesn't allow for locals to live here affordably with people who would like to support the industry," she said.

From food bank donors to visitors

According to Gizem Kaya, food security and community development manager at WCSS, many individuals have gone from being food donors to visitors at the food bank.

"There is no help for people … other than food banks which were meant to be a temporary solution," she said, "and now it's quickly becoming a very permanent solution."

Dickinson said while they're fortunate to work with local partners and have "more buying power" as a larger food bank, they haven't been immune to the consequences of inflation and rising food costs.

Before the pandemic, running the food bank was a $100,000-operation, said Dickinson. Now it costs $500,000 to cover staff wages and program supplies. 

Dickinson hopes Whistler can be seen not only as a tourist attraction, but as a town with the same social issues seen throughout the province. 

"It's important to discuss and it's important that as people visit our community, they're aware of [the challenges]," she said.

"We need to humanize it."

CBC has been raising money for British Columbia food banks for more than three decades, and the tradition continues this December. 

Click here to donate to B.C.'s food banks until Dec. 31.