The number of people using food banks across the country surged to an all-time high earlier this year, with high inflation and low social assistance rates c
The annual report released Thursday said there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in March, a figure that was 15 per cent higher than the number of visits in the same month last year and 35 per cent higher than visits in March 2019, before the pandemic hit.
“We have got people like seniors, who have been able to afford to live, suddenly having to turn to the food bank for the first time in their lives because it doesn’t all add up,” Beardsley said. The report said around 500,000 food bank clients – about one-third – are children, who make up around 20 per cent of the country’s total population.“This is the future of our country, this is who is going to be our future leaders, scientists, artists,” she said. “When you’re going to school hungry, you’re not learning, you’re not focusing, you’re not setting yourself up to thrive.”