· 1 in 8 Canadian families struggle to put
food on table, study says
CBC – Mon,
29 Jul, 2013
CBC - Wed, 24 Jul,
2013
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About 1.6 million Canadians faced some level of food insecurity in
2011, according to a new report.
That amounts to
nearly one in eight families who have inadequate access to regular, healthy
meals because of financial constraints.
And the problem is
getting worse says the report, entitled Household Food Insecurity in Canada,
produced by a research team from the University of Toronto, the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Calgary, and the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health.
There were 450,000
more Canadians living in households affected by food insecurity in 2011 than in
2008.
The report is based
on data from Statistics Canada’s Household Food Security Survey Module, which
was part of the annual Canadian Community Health Survey.
The estimated 60,000
respondents were asked 18 questions, ranging from whether they've ever
experienced anxiety about running out of food, to whether they've ever gone a
full day without eating.
Households with
children under the age of 18 are more likely to be food insecure, says the
study, which does not include data from homeless people.
More than 1.1 million
children, or one in six, were living in a home where people reported struggling
to put food on the table in 2011.
Nunavut, Prince
Edward Island and New Brunswick had the highest prevalence of children living
in food-insecure households at 57 per cent, 27 per cent and 25 per cent
respectively.
"Food insecurity
is a problem of purchasing power and to have one in four children in New
Brunswick, struggling, living in households struggling, it's got to be a story
of income," said nutritional scientist Valerie Tarasuk, the lead
researcher on the 26-page report.
"These are
people who don't have enough money to make ends meet from one month to the
next."
She and the other
researchers contend there should be new policies designed specifically to
tackle food insecurity.
"The increased
prevalence nationally, the alarming rates in the North and the Maritimes, and
the sheer volume of affected households in our largest provinces suggest that
reducing the prevalence of food insecurity requires attention and action by the
federal, provincial and territorial governments," the report states.
"A problem this
big can't be fixed by food charity," such as food banks, said Tarasuk.
"It needs more serious responses that respond directly to the root
causes."
She points to
Newfoundland and Labrador, which launched a "very aggressive" poverty
reduction strategy in 2006, as an example.
It now has the lowest
rate of household food insecurity at 10.6 per cent, compared with 15.7 per cent
in 2007. No other province or territory has shown a steady decline.
Without more such
programs, the consequences will be "very disturbing," said Tarasuk.
"Food insecurity
takes an indelible toll, an indelible mark on children's health — both physical
health and mental health. So it is a problem, it's a serious problem to have so
many Canadians living in these conditions."
John Roop, who
recently moved to Saint John, said he and his daughter are struggling. But
people in the city have never hesitated to lend a helping hand, he said.
"I tell her,
hold your chin up. Things will get better. Sooner or later," said Roop.
"You always
gotta hit rock bottom before you get back to the top."
The lunch program at
the local Boys and Girls Club helps feed 100 children five days a week during
the school year, said program services manager Sandra McGowan.
She said many
families in the area live below the poverty line.
"We feed kids
all the time, not just the lunch time," said McGowan. "We have kids
that come into our evening program, come up to tell us they're hungry. We know
they probably didn't have something for supper. So we don't hesitate to find
them something for supper."
The nearby Romero
House soup kitchen sees people of all ages in need. Volunteer Phyllis
Beckingham said a growing number of people have been coming through the doors
in recent months.
"There's a lot
of new faces," she said. "We have a lot of single men and women that
come in, we have people with families. We have children that come in. And
prices are going up — like bread's going up, milk … gas."
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