More than a million people were food insecure in Quebec in 2020. The situation then deteriorated significantly with the outbreak of inflation. Existing solutions on the ground are insufficient to respond to what some are calling an “explosion” in food aid demand.
Given the scale of the problem, there are increasing voices calling for the fight to shift food insecurity into higher gear, and to use appropriate means to reduce and prevent it.
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Constantly increasing demand
Quebec’s food banks now respond to an average of 2.2 million food aid requests each month, a 20% increase from the previous year, according to the latest HungerCount. More than 670,000 people are being helped monthly, an increase of 9% since 2021 and 33% since 2019. It should be added that 34% of food aid recipients are children. The physical and psychological effects of food insecurity are well documented.
Current responses to food insecurity are no longer even sufficient to stem its growth, and food insecurity mitigation strategies, however necessary, do not have the power – or purpose – to lower the food insecurity needle.
Sound the alarm
Following the conclusions of the recent Quebec Observatory of Inequalities report on food insecurity, “Hunger justifies the means»On the one hand, we believe that community initiatives to alleviate food insecurity deserve more adequate support and, on the other hand, we propose that the implementation of measures to reduce and prevent food insecurity in a sustainable manner should be seriously considered.
Towards a significant and lasting reduction
In order to reduce food insecurity, it seems inevitable to address its root causes.
If the immediate main reason for household food insecurity is the lack of adequate financial resources, three factors explain this situation: precarious employment conditions (half of households with food insecurity have an income from work as their main source of income, meaning that being employed is no guarantee of poverty) ; an inadequate social safety net (e.g., more than half of Quebec households living on welfare are food insecure); finally, the cost of living with housing putting very strong budgetary pressures on food-insecure households, not to mention food and transport costs which are subject to inflationary pressures.
Under these circumstances, a lasting solution to food insecurity requires increasing the purchasing power of less well-off people through measures to improve their income and lower the cost of living. In the very short term, establishing a universal school feeding program, which is widespread in the G7 countries, would support food-insecure families.
Updating the social safety net, improving employment conditions and controlling the cost of living are the most structuring ways to eliminate and prevent food insecurity. A true national conversation that brings together all sectors of Québec society needs to be on the agenda.
References:
– The Food Banks of Quebec (2022). HungerCount
– Quebec Inequality Observatory (2022). Hunger justifies the means
– Webinar “Food Insecurity in Quebec: How to Sustainably Reduce It?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md_yY08ekpw
Co-signer:
Anne-Marie Aubert, Coordinator of the Montreal Food System Council
Olivier Bonnet, Managing Director of Paroles d’excluEs
Sylvie Chamberland, Co-Director General of the Carrefour Solidaire Community Food Center
Gaël Chantrel, Operations Manager, Food Banks of Quebec
Isabelle Genest, President and CEO of Centraide Quebec, Chaudière-Appalaches and Bas-Saint-Laurent
Nathalie Guay, Executive Director, Quebec Observatory of Inequalities
Virginie Larivière, spokesperson for the Collective for a Quebec Without Poverty
Claude Pinard, President and CEO of Centraide in the greater Montreal area