Ontario Food Bank conference wraps up in Thunder Bay

The unique challenges faced by food banks in the north were highlighted at the annual Ontario Association of Food Banks conference, which wrapped up Tuesday in Thunder Bay.

Eighty delegates from food banks across Ontario attended the three-day conference.

It was the first time the conference had been hosted in a northern community, and that may be beneficial, as the city's distance highlighted some of the challenges that northern food banks face, said Volker Kromm, executive director of the Regional Food Distribution Association.

Poverty likely more severe than in the south

"We have issues with the distance and cost, and our poverty's no different," Kromm said, "but probably, in a lot of cases, even more severe than ... in other places in Ontario."

Kromm said that the opportunity for delegates to get together and measure each other's difference and similarities is always insightful.

He also said that the challenges that remote communities face are similar to their southern counterparts in some respects: collecting enough food, but also ensuring it's the right kind of high-quality, high-protein food.

"We're really pleased to have had this opportunity to showcase ways the north is different, and ways the north is the same as the rest of Ontario. So, for us, it was a really big success," he said.

Many members of the association are unaware of the high prices northerners pay for food

Chris Hatch, executive director of the Mississauga Food Bank and and president and chair of board of the Ontario Association of Food Banks, recognized that many delegates also weren't aware of the elevated prices of foods in remote northern areas.

Hatch said that gathering all the delegates together also gave them the chance to discuss some initiatives put forward by Ontario's Liberal government.

"One of the biggest issues we discussed was the guaranteed basic income, which has been put forward by the Liberal government down in Queen's Park as a pilot," he said, "we're very much supportive of that. There's both sides of the coin on that issue, but we generally support looking at that further as a way to lift people out of poverty."

Next year the associations will meet again, with Toronto being the venue.