Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
The Government of Saskatchewan has pledged $2 million to Food Banks of Saskatchewan to help with supplies when the non-profits are reporting an acute shortage. The money will be provided over the next two years, with the first instalment coming next month. “Since the provincial budget was announced in March, the cost of food has continued to increase. This funding to Food Banks of Saskatchewan is an additional affordability measure from our government to help families and individuals manage rising daily living costs due to inflation,” Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky said at a media briefing last Thursday.
Last March, there were more than 55,000 visits to food banks in the province, nearly double the number in March 2019, according to the HungerCount 2023, an annual report compiled by Food Banks Canada, and those numbers have continued to climb. Food banks across the province are seeing record demand, but donations are dropping because of the higher cost of living, Food Banks of Saskatchewan Executive Director Michael Kincade said.
“Saskatchewan Food Banks have had their busiest year yet, making it challenging to build up sufficient food reserves,” Kincade said. “Inflation continues to accelerate, seriously impacting hunger and food insecurity, not only with low-income households but even those in higher income brackets. With demand increasing and donations decreasing, this help comes at a critical time to help us feed our friends, neighbours, and families.”
Betty Rudachyk, Executive Director of the Good Neighbour Food Centre said they are “encouraged by and grateful for” the government’s newly announced funding. Although the Centre sees fluctuating numbers each week, they serve an average of 1000 people monthly of which 46 percent are children.
In the two months since GNFC shifted to the store model, 30 new families have applied to receive food assistance and Rudachyk said this is an unprecedented increase in a short time. The official Grand Opening of GNFC Food Store was held on June 20th, but a soft opening occurred on May 24th. The ‘free store’ model provides dignity to those experiencing food insecurity, and as Rudachyk said during the Grand Opening the recent and rapid uptick in usage “affirms that we are doing the right thing because those people have been sitting quietly in their homes, struggling with some level of food insecurity, feeling humble, feeling embarrassed, maybe somewhat ashamed, and they have felt that this is a more normalized kind of experience, and it has allowed them to go past their emotional and social barriers to come in and shop like they would at any grocery store.”
In Thursday’s media address, Michael Kincade asserted, “I guarantee you know somebody. One of your friends, one of your family members, your neighbour — they’re using the food bank. …Nobody likes to admit it, but it’s happening,” he added. “Unfortunately, we’re seeing families with double incomes having to access food banks right now.”
Alberta and Saskatchewan consistently have some of the highest rates of food bank use. Residents and community leaders in Saskatchewan believe that poverty is deepening in the province, leading to more families experiencing food insecurity. Social Assistance programs vary among provinces and territories, but being on Social Assistance anywhere in Canada poses an extremely high risk of food insecurity, as the current design of social assistance programs leaves many unable to make ends meet. Food Bank Canada’s HungerCount 2023 reported that the main source of income for 42.4 percent of food bank clients is provincial social assistance, including both the general welfare and provincial disability support income streams. Provincial social assistance rates are so low that all household types receiving social assistance live below the official poverty line in almost every province and territory.
With the cost of living, donors have less disposable income leading to fewer donations. At Good Neighbours Food Centre, Rudachyk and Operations Manager, Chanda Vickzo, together with the corps of volunteers, fundraise and restock their shelves in sometimes unique ways. The second annual toilet paper tower challenge ran through July. When families do not have enough money for groceries, they do not have money for personal hygiene products either.
“All across the province the need is growing,” said Kincade. “At this time of the year, supplies are down, donations are down, and donors have less disposable income.”
Food Banks were never intended to be a long-term permanent answer to food insecurity yet the nearly two million food bank visits in one month alone demonstrate that the state of poverty and food insecurity in Canada has reached “alarming heights.”
Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley, said in an interview with CBC Radio in October 2022, “The lack of government action has only exacerbated the problems we were seeing a year ago, and in some cases, for decades prior. … We [really] need to see government take action to shore up our social safety net.”
Wilmer Froese identified these same concerns in his book, “Neighbours Helping Neighbours: The Story of Good Neighbours Food Centre.” Froese wrote, “…food banks were only supposed to be short-term solutions to poverty…. It made me wonder whether governments were abdicating their responsibility of ensuring a more equitable economic climate….”
The financial assistance for Food Banks is a welcome measure, but is it an affordability measure?
The face of hunger is real, and closer than many think. A neighbour, a work colleague, a friend, or even a family member… hunger is not an issue reserved solely for strangers or the homeless. Food insecurity can be found even within one’s closest circles, where, for the most part, they often go quietly unnoticed.
There remains a stigma attached to poverty. Responsible money management and hard work have historically been the ‘playbook rules’ to avoid such a state. Becoming impoverished and unable to ‘put food on the table’ resulted from not following those ‘rules.’ Yet, more than half of Canadians are less than a paycheque away from dire financial circumstances. An illness, accident, job loss, or dangerous family situation can push anyone over the edge and into needing a food bank.
