The huge rise in the cost of food and housing, as well as rising inflation rates and declining social assistance rates, contributed to the increase in the number of people using food banks across the country to its highest level ever earlier this year.

With rising inflation rates and declining social assistance rates as key factors in the increase, according to a new report by Food Banks Canada. The annual report released on Thursday said there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in March, a figure that was 15 percent higher than the number of visits in the same month last year and 35 percent higher than visits in March 2019 before the pandemic hit.

The report, which looked at data from more than 4,750 food banks and community organizations, said the huge increase in the cost of food and housing, as well as high inflation and low social assistance rates, has contributed to increased use of food banks.

Christine Birdsall, CEO of Food Banks Canada, described the numbers as "devastating." She said in a telephone interview, "What we are seeing is a combination of the long-term impacts of a disrupted social safety net along with the effects of inflation and high costs that are pushing more people to use food banks more than ever before in Canadian history."

Birdsall said that fixed-income groups such as seniors and low-income workers such as students have been severely affected because their wages cannot keep up with inflation. Birdsall said, "We have people like seniors who were able to afford living expenses suddenly having to turn to the food bank for the first time in their lives because it just doesn't add up." "And students are similar and often their income is extremely limited, so when costs rise the way we've seen, you can't stretch the dollar."

The report said, "About 500,000 food bank clients - about one-third - are children, who make up about 20 percent of the total population of the country."

This is the future of our country. These will be our future leaders, scientists, and artists. "When you go to school hungry, you don't learn, you don't concentrate, and you don't prepare yourself to thrive."

Food Banks Canada said food insecurity is particularly severe in Northern Canada, calling for the development of community approaches in those areas to address the issue.

Birdsall described the report as a "wake-up call" that should trigger actions to address food insecurity and the issues contributing to it. The report suggests both long-term and short-term solutions, including establishing a universal minimum income for low-income Canadians and providing affordable and rent-supported housing. It also points to the need for reforms in employment insurance and Canadian workers' benefit programs.

Edited by: Yusra Bamtarf