Northeastern Ontario food banks, health units call for government to address rising food insecurity

Rates of food insecurity continue to rise in communities across the province, including in northeastern Ontario, according to a number of organizations and agencies in the region.

Health units, social services agencies and food banks say food insecurity is directly tied to low income, and they're calling on the province to address the issue and set targets to reduce it.

In a new report, Algoma Public Health said 17.6 per cent of local households were food insecure between 2021 and 2023. It found social assistance rates and minimum wage are not enough to cover costs of living.

The report highlighted that households receiving social assistance such as Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) struggle more with food insecurity, according to Lisa O'Brien, a health promotion specialist with Algoma Public Health.

"They're spending a lot. A very high percentage of their income would go to food as well as things like rent, leaving very, very little, if any money left over for other basic necessities."

O'Brien added those receiving social assistance spend between 41 per cent to 80 per cent of their total monthly income on rent alone.

At its board meeting on May 28, Algoma Public Health passed a resolution based on the latest report, and is asking the recently re-elected Progressive Conservative government under Doug Ford to recognize and acknowledge food insecurity as an income-based problem that requires income-based solutions.

Call for income-based solutions

O'Brien said evidence suggests income-based policies and programs, such as adequate social assistance rates, living wages, basic income, and affordable housing, are effective solutions to reduce food insecurity.

"We really need to focus on the upstream approaches like income-based solutions that really prevent people from falling into the water in the first place," said O'Brien.

The resolution is being welcomed by local food banks, which are seeing an increasing number of people accessing their services, particularly by those on social assistance.

"To this point this year, 40 per cent of our clients have been on ODSP and another 28 per cent rely on OW," said Sara McCleary, marketing manager at St. Vincent Place food bank in Sault Ste. Marie.

"So that's a pretty good indicator that those rates are not high enough that those people, those families who are relying on social assistance, they're not getting enough to live off of."

McCleary said client numbers are rising quickly, with more than 400 people accessing the food bank in May. She added they have not had such a high number in a long time.

A similar situation is being seen by Harvest Algoma. The food rescue organization supplies food banks in the Algoma region, and director David Thompson says he isn't surprised the numbers are rising.

"Even after moving about 140,000 pounds of food by this May, that's 50 per cent more than where we were last year. Every agency food bank that I speak to still reports record demand and it tells us the real shortage isn't food, it's income." 

Thompson says government policies aren't doing enough to address the causes of food insecurity, including not raising social assistance or implementing a basic income.

Other health units asking for measures

Algoma Public Health is not the only health unit asking for measures to be taken to address food insecurity.

In 2024, Public Health Sudbury and Districts also urged the provincial government to examine the adequacy of social assistance rates when looking at food affordability. The health unit says one in six households in the district are food insecure.

Dan Xilon, executive director of the Sudbury Food Bank, said they receive about 17,000 calls for service each month, with many of the calls from new clients who have never accessed a food bank before.

"It's individuals with food insecurity across all areas of the community," said Xilon. "I think that basic income amount has to be looked at across Canada. And I think that would go a long way to alleviating our numbers."

Latest data from the North Bay-Parry Sound Health Unit show almost one in four local households are food insecure, while it's one in five households in the Porcupine Health Unit.