N.S. food banks scramble to meet surge in demand

Lia LeClair has been volunteering with the Pictou County Food Bank in New Glasgow, N.S., for over 25 years, but she's never seen it as busy as it is this year.

"There's no comparison," LeClair said in an interview following a busy shift during which the food bank served 75 clients in a three-hour window. Seven of those clients were visiting for the first time.

LeClair said the majority of clients are working full-time jobs, sometimes two jobs, but they still can't afford to buy all the food they need.

"It's building up more and more every month."

What LeClair is seeing in New Glasgow is not unique. Food bank usage across Nova Scotia has surged by 27 per cent this year, according to Feed Nova Scotia, which distributes supplies to food banks across the province.

Abby Crosby, a spokesperson for Feed Nova Scotia, said the situation has reached the point of crisis.

"It's a perfect storm between the rising cost of living, unaffordable housing and inadequate income," Crosby said.

Crosby said there was a small dip in demand for food charity during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people received money through government relief programs, but with those programs over, demand has more than bounced back.

Food bank double spending

Feed Nova Scotia relies heavily on donated items, but the non-profit organization also buys some groceries, and Crosby said it doubled its spending this year, from $1 million to $2 million.

Lisa Harrison has taken the same step as Feed Nova Scotia, doubling her food budget at the Brunswick Street Mission in Halifax, which operates a food bank and serves hot breakfast five days a week.

Some of the mission's operating budget comes from donations, and Harrison said many people are not able to give as much this year because of the rising cost of living.

"It's really hard to get the money that we need to keep going. I mean, we keep asking. But it is definitely a challenge this year."

At a recent food drive in Sackville, the Knights of Columbus were faced with the same problem.

In a record year, the annual food drive brought in more than 2,200 kilograms of donated food, but this year's event yielded less than 500 kilograms.

Food banks just the tip of the iceberg

Lesley Frank, a professor of sociology at Acadia University, said food insecurity is a problem that runs much deeper than what food bank usage indicates.

"This growing number, in some ways it's a bit of a proxy for a growing problem of food insecurity. But it never really tells the full picture of the extent of that problem," she said.

To be food insecure is to experience some level of food deprivation. At the marginal end of food insecurity, people have a limited selection of foods they can afford; at the severe end, people skip meals or go without food for a day or more.

Frank said typically, only about one fifth of people who are food insecure seek help through services like food banks.

Food insecurity up

According to a study out this month by Proof, a research program out of the University of Toronto that focuses on food insecurity in Canada, more than 21 per cent of Nova Scotia households were food insecure in 2022, up from about 18 per cent the year before. That number jumps to 64 per cent for households on social assistance.

Frank said the way to deal with the crisis being felt at food banks is to get people out of poverty by legislating higher wages. In Nova Scotia, the minimum wage is $15 an hour while the living wage is estimated to range from $22.85 to $26.50.

"Food banks are not really a policy response to the problem of food insecurity. What they are is a community response to the problem," Frank said.

Crosby, of Feed Nova Scotia, echoed that idea.

"Charitable solutions will never be enough. People are not hungry because they don't have enough food, they're hungry because they don't have enough income to be able to provide for their family what they want and need to eat." 

Crosby called for an increase to income assistance rates, and the construction of more affordable housing.

Speaking to reporters following a cabinet meeting Thursday, Trevor Boudreau, the minister of community services, said his department is aware of the challenges food banks and individuals are facing, but he did not specify any plans to provide more assistance either to food banks or directly to people experiencing food insecurity.

"We recognize people are struggling with cost of living and we're looking at options for supporting," Boudreau said.