Research Profile – Responding to the Need

Food charity is not sufficient for dealing with food insecurity in Canada.

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The food charity system helps many people, but it's not enough to manage problems of hunger in this country, according to researchers working in this area.

About 8% of households in Canada are "food insecure," meaning that they lack sufficient access to food because of financial constraints. Because it is so intertwined with poor health, food insecurity is a public health issue, according to Dr. Valerie Tarasuk from the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto.

"Yet we have no real policy response. When someone is unable to meet their food needs, the only resource available to them in most communities is charity," she said.

Food banks have become fixtures, as have meal programs. Yet, earlier research by Dr. Tarasuk and others shows that only 20% to 30% of food insecure households actually go to food banks, and most of these people still struggle to meet their food needs. Dr. Tarasuk and her team are trying to understand the reasons for this disconnect.

To get an idea how well current food assistance efforts are working, Dr. Tarasuk and a team of researchers from five other universities surveyed organizations that distribute food to those in need in five cities: Victoria, Edmonton, Toronto, Quebec City and Halifax.

The cities were chosen to get an idea of what was happening in places with different rates of food insecurity and different histories of food charity. Within these cities, the proportion of households that were food insecure ranged from 5% in Quebec City to 10.3% in Halifax.

Representatives from 532 organizations that offer food assistance in these cities were surveyed to find out more about how they operated. The researchers found that food assistance was being provided by multi-service agencies such as drop-in centres or community centres; places of worship such as churches and mosques; faith-based social services such as the Salvation Army; and a variety of other organizations such as colleges and health centres.

Some offered meal programs, while others are "food hamper" programs which supply groceries.

"Over 75% of the agencies have been providing food assistance for more than 10 years, and the demand for food continues to grow," says Dr. Tarasuk. In the course of a month, the agencies surveyed were serving over 551,000 meals and giving groceries to more than 135,000 people.

However, this doesn't mean people are getting all the food they actually need. Food charity programs are volunteer-driven and are heavily dependent on donations. Many groups provide food only as a side activity and are unable to provide meals or groceries each day of the week. Only 27% of agencies had sustained funding for their food program, and many places which provide meals close on weekends. About 20% provide food only during the winter months.

Furthermore, about 78% of agencies reported that the people coming to them for food needed more help than they could offer. Many meal programs and grocery providers sometimes turn people away because they don't have enough food to offer, and many organizations occasionally need to cut the amount or selection of food they give to the people they serve.

"Communities are doing the best they can, but their efforts cannot compensate for inadequate incomes," she said.

"When someone is unable to meet their food needs, the only resource available to them in most communities is charity."
– Dr. Valerie Tarasuk, University of Toronto