Photo cred: Lisa Fotios
Written by: David Hood
Yesterday, we shared the story God is writing with our church, Ottawa Community Housing (OCH), the Food Bank, and our neighbours at Russell Gardens and other communities. As much as I would love to just celebrate what God has done over the past year through our food bank, I would be remiss not to take the opportunity our anniversary provides to shine a light on food insecurity in our city. According to data from the 2017 Canadian Community Health Survey, 1 in 7 households (13.9 per cent) in Ottawa is food insecure. That percentage has without a doubt increased since the pandemic and with inflation. In a recent Ottawa Citizen article, it was observed that food prices surged in August at the fastest pace in more than four decades. People cannot afford meat or produce anymore. They cannot afford groceries and rent, groceries and transportation, or groceries and medication. Ontario food insecurity data from the 2021 Canadian Income Survey suggests that:
- Almost 1 in 6 households (16.1 per cent) in Ontario is food insecure, amounting to 2.3 million Ontarians.
- 1 in 5 children in Ontario (20.6 per cent) live in a food-insecure household, amounting to half a million children.
Rachel Wilson, CEO of the Ottawa Food Banks, states that they usually spend $2 million a year on food. This year they will be spending $6 million. We are in the midst of a crisis.
When we first started our outreach, we were seeing people once, maybe twice a month, and 30 clients was a really busy night. We are now seeing people weekly, and a busy night is upwards of 60 clients. We are meeting new people almost every week, and more and more tenants are coming who have never accessed or needed the food bank before. Also, our clientele is very diverse. We aren’t seeing more of one population than another. Our clients include young people, single parents, immigrants, whites, BIPOC, families, and the very elderly. Whereas before, we were for the most part providing emergency food aid, we are now people’s primary source of food. The desperation is palpable. It is heartbreaking. So many of our neighbours already live with barriers to flourishing. They live with poverty, trauma, mental illness, unstable shelter, a lack of safety, marginalization, discrimination, and isolation. Since the pandemic, in many communities, there is increasing concern about crime, violence, conflict, drug abuse, relational breakdown, broken trust, inconsistent and inadequate support, and loneliness. All of this is enough to live with without having to also worry about whether or not you will have anything to eat. Food insecurity just adds stress and anxiety and feelings of hopelessness to already demoralizing situations. It can keep people trapped in cycles where they fail to thrive.
Ottawa Public Health observes Food insecurity is a problem that goes beyond an issue of food and its impact on health goes beyond diet and nutrition. People living in food-insecure households are much more likely than others to be diagnosed with mental health disorders (such as depression and anxiety), chronic diseases (such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes) and infections (2 to 11). People who are food insecure are more likely to be diagnosed with more than one chronic condition and are less able to manage chronic conditions as they may struggle to adhere to therapeutic diets and afford medications. Because of its harmful effects on health, household food insecurity places a large burden on the healthcare system.
Food insecurity is not a small or isolated issue. It is a massive problem, and our current coping strategies, while better than nothing, are woefully inadequate. They are band-aid solutions. We are grateful to be able to provide some relief to the acute stress some of our neighbours live with; they know that every Monday there will be fresh, healthy food made available to them at no cost. But we wish we didn’t have to do this. Most people don’t know this, but food banks were started as temporary, emergency services. That was almost 40 years ago, and instead of things getting better, more people are accessing food banks today than ever before. The Hunger Count 2022 report states, In March 2022, there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in Canada, the highest March usage on record (up 35% from March 2019) even though unemployment rates were at their lowest on record in the same month. This year, we are seeing a trend that we have not previously observed. Despite the unemployment rate being at 5.3 per cent, “the lowest on record” since 1976, food bank visits are the highest they have ever been.
While food banks meet an important and urgent need, we need to go further upstream and make systemic changes to address poverty, homelessness, and the increasing unaffordability of basic human needs for more and more people. Praise God for food banks, and for everything He has done through us in our neighbourhood, but we can’t stop here. This can’t be all we do. And it isn’t sustainable. Our neighbours deserve better.
And in case there is any question about whether Christians need to be involved in something like this, God’s Word says yes. Isaiah 58: break the chains of wickedness…untie the ropes of the yoke…set the oppressed free…tear off every yoke….share your bread with the hungry…bring the poor and homeless into your house…clothe the naked when you see him…Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard. 9 At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, 10 and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
Proverbs 31:8-9: Speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed. 9 Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.
If you would like to know what more you can do, Ottawa Public Health provides some great actionable suggestions here.
You can also read Food Bank Canada’s Hunger Count 2022 report here