I read the depressing document on Nova Scotia prepared by Sandra MacNeil
(forwarded by Mike Gurstein) and the somewhat more encouraging posting by
Gail Stewart.
It made me wonder how many people saw the little article by Margaret Philp
buried in the Globe and Mail this morning (April 4th). It said that one in
four poor mothers who need to turn to food banks for groceries sometimes
suffer from severe hunger. A study led by Valerie Tarasuk, of the faculty
of Medicine, University of Toronto, of 153 women with children using food
banks found that 26.8 per cent of the mothers reported experiencing "severe
food deprivation" sometime during the past year, with 21.6 per cent
suffering from hunger within the past month. The study, commissioned by
Health Canada, narrowed its focus to women with children because, in
families living in poverty, mothers are regarded as most likely to deprive
themselves in order that their children can eat, so they are most vulnerable
to household food shortages.
The study indicated that, while food banks help poor families, they do not
prevent them from going hungry. It suggests that continued reliance on such
a highly stigmatized and woefully inadequate system of assistance appears to
have long-term physical and psychological health consequences. Seventy per
cent of the women were surviving on social assistance alone, at an average
level of income representing 52.8 per cent of Statistics Canada's low-income
cutoff, widely used as a poverty line. The researchers found that the
women's nutrition was poor, with grossly inadequate levels of iron,
magnesium, vitamin A and folate in their diets. Only 38 per cent of the
women surveyed considered their health to be very good or excellent. The
study concludes that food banks are failing even to stave off basic hunger
in the country's poorest families.
The study was prepared for Health Canada. It would be nice if governments
recognized the need and took some serious action, but given today's
political climate, I think that's unlikely.
Ed Weick
