Ontario food bank forced to turn clients away due to high demand

Roman Tiraspolsky - stock.adobe.com

A food bank in southern Ontario was forced to turn away clients approximately two weeks ago after it ran out of food.

The Salvation Army Food Bank in Brant County was forced to temporarily shut down for a day after its Paris, Ontario location ran out of donations.

It’s something that Capt. Joshua Cain says has not happened before and is a sign of the hard economic times that they’re in.

“This isn’t something that’s going to go away any time soon,” he told Global News. “The affordability crisis is a complex issue and there’s no one simple solution.”

The closure comes at what is usually a tough time for food banks, as donations tend to plateau or slow down in the summer months. Donations usually pick up around big holidays such as Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Canadian food banks are being pushed to the brink and donations are not keeping up to the high demand.

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Demand for food items has increased over the months though, as is noted by several food bank organizations.

One employee at the food bank told Cain that it was the first time in their 20 years working there that they had to shut the operation down due to a lack of food.

“It wasn’t a situation where we would ever willingly choose to do, it was just the reality of the situation,” he said. “The demand was greater than the food we had available that day to be able to provide.”

In June, Food Banks Canada published a report indicating that the number of Canadians living in poverty might be more significant than earlier estimates.

The organization suggests that up to 25 percent of Canadians could be classified as living in poverty because they are unable to afford two or more essential household items.

SHOCKING: A growing number of Canadians will access their local food bank this fall—more so than reported during the pandemic.https://t.co/ZVPOCEBsPg

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) August 17, 2024

In November 2023, Feed Ontario, a provincial food bank network, reported a consistent increase in food bank usage, noting a 38 percent rise in 2022 compared to the previous year.

The report points out how lack of work, eroding social support programs, the housing crisis, and the general cost of living have all impacted Canadians.

A new report shows that food insecurity and poverty are only getting worse across Canada.

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“It used to be that having a job meant that you would not need to access a food bank,” Feed Ontario’s chief executive officer, Carolyn Stewart, wrote in a statement upon the report’s publishing.

“This is no longer the case. Working Ontarians are having trouble earning enough income to afford today’s cost of living, even when working multiple jobs or trying to cut expenses.”

Feed Ontario’s study found that 7 percent of food banks expressed concerns over being able to meet food needs.