By Sumayya
TORONTO — People in Canada are still having a hard time dealing with the high cost of everyday life. This year, monthly visits to food banks went up by nearly 9 percent compared to last year.
According to the yearly HungerCount report by Food Banks Canada, food bank visits have jumped to 2.35 million every month in 2026. This is a 117 percent increase since 2019.
“(This) is the story of what happens when millions of people are out of options,” said Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley.
“In the past, most people in Canada could absorb a small financial setback… those days are over. Canada’s bleak new reality is that millions of people are making impossible trade-offs every day as they choose between food or rent,” she said.
Food bank visits went up in every single province and territory except for Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. The provinces with the most people living in them had the highest number of visits. Ontario had 846,724 visits (a nearly 11 percent increase), Quebec had 785,889 visits (up 5 percent), and British Columbia had 250,505 visits (a 14 percent increase).
“This does not have to be Canada’s story,” Beardsley said, as she asked all levels of government to take action.
This year’s report includes several recommendations. It suggests changing employment insurance (EI) so it covers non-traditional jobs like gig work, and checking the rules for who can get it. It also recommends doubling the Canada Workers Benefit, improving the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), reviewing federal social assistance, and spending money on important needs like affordable housing.
The report also asks for more investment in the northern part of Canada. Food bank visits there have gone up very fast compared to last year: up 24 percent in Yukon and up 29 percent in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Food Banks Canada shares its HungerCount study every year. They collect information from more than 5,500 food banks and community groups across the nation. The report showed that the price of basic needs has jumped since 2021. Grocery prices went up by nearly 30 percent, housing costs went up by 28 percent, and travel costs rose by nearly 24 percent.
Because life is getting more expensive, more people who actually have jobs are going to food banks. The report discovered that almost one out of five food bank users has a job. This is up from one out of 10 users back in 2019.
