Food for All

Food insecurity is defined as inadequate or insecure access to food due to a variety of constraints, but most importantly financial barriers.

The issue is the direct result of oppressive systems, widening income gaps, inequitable access to food, and institutional failures. If anything, the realities of the past few years (COVID-19, inflation, climate change) have exacerbated an already existing problem.

2SLGBTQ+ communities are at greater risk of experiencing food insecurity:

• 2 Spirit, queer, trans seniors are often food insecure as a result of social isolation.
• Trans and non-binary folks would much rather go without food than experience violence in the form of deadnaming and misgendering at food access centres.
• Many community members are on government income and employment assistance, but these supports are unable to keep up with skyrocketing housing and food costs.
• Many of our communities experience barriers in accessing food that is culturally affirming.

Responding to food insecurity is a collective response. It requires a holistic, intersectional, and trauma-informed understanding of the issue.

Consultations, policies, and responses addressing food insecurity have been introduced at various levels of government over the years. But we have yet to feel the impact on the ground.  

Canada’s 2019 budget proposed to invest $134.4 million over five years, on a cash basis, beginning 2019-2020. This was Canada’s first-of-its-kind food policy titled ‘Everyone at the Table’. Also included was a local food infrastructure fund worth $50 million to support community-led projects to improve access to nutritious, diverse, culturally-affirming, and safe food.  

These consultations and the resultant budget announcements took place prior to a global pandemic that continues to impact lives as well as the systems at play in our society – including food access. The barriers facing people’s access to food are far too many today. Additionally, these budget allocations are not sufficient to meet the needs of Canada’s growing population. Several rural areas as well as First Peoples’ reserves continue to be severely food insecure, with many of them not getting clean drinking water, to begin with.

Budget allocations mean nothing till we see their direct impact. Our institutions need to do better.

Similar efforts and initiatives have been taken up in the past by the province of Ontario but to no avail. Social assistance like Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) offered by the province is inadequate in affording people access to housing and food, even more so in Toronto where we are amid a growing housing crisis. Many people must choose between paying rent and buying food. 

Anti-Black racism has negatively impacted key social determinants of health for Black communities, including access to food. This has only been amplified in the past 2.5 years. In October 2021, the Toronto Black Food Sovereignty Plan to address food insecurity among Black communities was approved by city council. A partnership between the City of Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unity (CABR) and Afri-Can FoodBasket, it is touted to be North America’s first Black food sovereignty program. 

Generally, municipal governments are constrained for tools to holistically address this systemic issue, as it is also linked with other problems including increasing costs of rents, housing, and other services. Naturally, the burden falls on food charities, community-led initiatives, and non-profits like food banks and soup kitchens that rely on individual and corporate donors. Yet, there is only so much that a band-aid solution like this can help. 

Inadequate income is the root cause of food insecurity, among other factors. With record levels of inflation, and climate change impacting volumes of food exports, the problem is only expected to worsen.  

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Through inter-governmental collaboration and responses, we can hope to create the systemic change necessary to holistically address food insecurity. Food charities are not the solution to food insecurity. Robust policy is; policy that would improve social assistance, living wage, and employment standards for all Canadians.

• In 2017, the federal government consulted with various communities and organizations about the Food Policy of Canada – including First Peoples, people who work in the food system, and food justice advocates.   
• As of 2022, an average family of four (2 adults, 2 children) had an annual food expense of $14,767, up by $966 from 2021. 
• 4 million people in Canada are food insecure as a result of living below the poverty line, representing close to 13% of households. 
• 13% of households in Ontario are food insecure. This number has increased during COVID-19 in groups that were already at risk.
• According to the Who’s Hungry report, more than half the respondents have reported missing a meal to pay for something else: rent, childcare, healthcare, etc.