TORONTO: Hundreds of thousands of people stream in each month to the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, its chief executive says, as galloping inflation continues to squeeze Canadians’ grocery budgets.
“We are absolutely in a food crisis in this country and certainly in the city of Toronto,” Neil Hetherington said in a recent AFP interview.
His organisation saw the number of people using its services double during the COVID-19 pandemic to an average of 120,000 per month, which continued to rise to a record 270,000 in March.
Of the newcomers to the 128 food banks across the Toronto area affiliated with Daily Bread, many have full-time jobs but still can’t seem to make ends meet, Hetherington said as volunteers sorted through donations at its depot in a suburb of Toronto.
Although overall inflation has cooled to 4.3 per cent in March from a peak of 8.1 per cent last June, food inflation remains stubbornly high at around 10 per cent year over year.
Hetherington noted that accommodations – both rentals and homes for sales – are also out of reach of many Canadians after a jump in real estate prices last year, compounding cost-of-living woes.
According to a report by the real estate firm Urbanation, the average cost of a studio apartment in Canada’s largest city is C$2,124 (US$1,568) per month, up about C$380 from last year.
“CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT FOOD”
Ryan Patcheson said he started coming to the food bank 18 months ago. He receives disability benefits but says it’s not enough to live on.
“It makes a world of difference when you get a couple of bags of rice at the end of the month and some potatoes” from a food bank, Patcheson, who is in his thirties, told AFP.
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