Refugees Turning To Food Banks Is 'Cultural': McCallum

OTTAWA — The fact some newly arrived Syrian refugees are turning to food banks to supplement their own pantries can be partially explained by a "cultural element," the immigration minister said Wednesday.

Food banks from Halifax to B.C. have reported serving hundreds of Syrians who have come to Canada since November, the month the Liberal government launched a major resettlement program to bring 25,000 people by the end of February.

Toronto's growing food insecurity crisis

Six years ago this spring, I was challenged by low-income people in my community to live for one week on a “food bank diet” to better understand the stress experienced by so many on social assistance who have to make the choice between food and rent each month. The affect on me and my family was profound.

But while that publicity stunt helped raise awareness about hunger in our city, little has improved since. In fact, our local food banks are busier than ever.

Foodbanks Have Hit A New UK Record - And Many People Using Them Are Not ‘Work Shy’

A record number of Britons are now using foodbanks, new analysis has revealed, with many of their customers being skilled workers or disabled people unable to hold down a job.

Foodbank use in the UK rose 2% last year to a new high, according to the latest figures from The Trussell Trust, which show that it has handed out over a million three-day emergency food supplies since April 2015.

Food Bank Society's Two-Tier Membership Shuns Clients, Critics Say

The Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society is facing criticism over a rule change made last year barring anyone who uses the service from full voting membership.

The membership rules undermine the dignity of people who use the service, said member Jim Spencley, who has used the food bank services intermittently over the last three years.

"We can get their charity but we can't contribute to the process," he said. "I find that offensive."

Why Are So Many Canadians Relying On Food Banks?

There is certainly enough bad news to go around these days. In Western Canada, companies in the oil patch have laid off 35,000 workers since the price of oil plunged by half.

In Central Canada, the manufacturing sector has not lived up to expectations set by the fall in the value of the loonie.

Food Bank Use Remains at Financial Crisis Levels: Report

The cost of housing coupled with unemployment and poor wages is sending more Canadians to food banks, according to a charity organization dedicated to fighting hunger in the country.

Food Banks Canada released its annual report Hunger Count Tuesday in Ottawa today, showing a 1.3 per cent increase in food bank use by Canadians over the last year.

But the more concerning issue, said the group, is that food bank use shot up 26 per cent when the 2008 financial crisis hit and is holding in place rather than returning to pre-crisis levels.

Canadian Food Bank Use Rising Among Children, Seniors: Report

OTTAWA — Food Banks Canada is using its annual report on the number of people using food banks in the country to push anew for the federal and provincial governments to do away with the social assistance programs.

The group wants to see the existing bureaucracies that oversee social benefits, such as disability payments, instead funnel all the savings into tax measures that would put more money into the hands of low-income earners.

Don't Reward Corporations for Donating Food Waste, Critic Says

The federal government should refuse to give a tax break to corporations that donate waste food to charity, says retired University of British Columbia social work professor Graham Riches.

"They're being offered a carrot, when perhaps they should be offered a stick," said Riches, an editor of the book First World Hunger Revisited and a long-time critic of food charity.

The National Zero Waste Council -- an organization whose membership includes local governments, businesses and non-profits -- wants municipal governments to pass motions urging the Canadian government to create a tax incentive "for food producers, suppliers and retailers to donate unsold edible food."

Suburban Poverty Has Arrived In Toronto, Food Bank Data Shows

The U.S. has seen a growing trend of suburban poverty in the years since the Great Recession, and now evidence is mounting that something similar is happening in Toronto.

Food bank use in Toronto’s suburban boroughs (Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough) has soared 45 per cent since 2008, while food bank use in the inner city (the old city of Toronto, East York and York) has fallen by 16 per cent in that time, says a new report from the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Campus Food Bank Use Is Rising Along With Tuition, Costs, Students Group Says

A new campus food bank at Saint Mary's University in Halifax is part of a troubling trend, says the Canadian Federation of Students.

Similar services have sprung up on campuses across Canada as tuition fees and living costs have risen along with student debt, national chairperson Bilan Arte said Tuesday.

Food bank use tops million mark over the past year

Recorded food bank use in the UK rose to record levels over in the past 12 months, challenging claims that the dividends of Britain’s economic recovery are being equally shared.

The latest figures from the Trussell Trust show a 19% year-on-year increase in food bank use, demonstrating that hunger and poverty continue to affect large numbers of people, including rising numbers of low-paid workers.

The trust’s 445 food banks distributed enough emergency food to feed almost 1.1 million people for three days in 2014-15 – up from 913,000 the previous year.

Tories seek to avert rift with Church of England over food bank report

The Conservative party is seeking to avert one of its biggest rifts with the Church of England for decades as an all-party report on food banks warns that Britain is stalked by hunger caused by low pay, growing inequality, a harsh benefits sanctions regime and social breakdown.

The church-funded report says voluntary groups have been courageously fighting “a social Dunkirk” without the assistance of the government, and calls for urgent action to ensure ministers do more to combat hunger, including joining a new coordinating body and asking supermarkets to do more with surplus unsold products.

Food Banks Were Meant to be Temporary. So Why Are They Growing?

The recent Hunger Count by Food Banks Canada is now a week old, but with the way things are digressing it might very well be next year's news, and that of the year after, and the year after.

This is one of the reasons why The Economist reversed its judgment of a decade ago and now labels us as, "Uncool Canada (The Moose Loses Its Shades)." Any nation, or its people, that continues to tolerate the proliferation of food banks in a world of financial abundance has clearly lost its appeal to the better angels of our nature. We've all known for some time now that democracy and economics seem to be veering off on different courses. The wealth that so easily flows around the globe isn't settling on middle-class families and the fate of those on the financial margins now appears permanently precarious.

Canada Food Bank Use Increases Across The Country: Report

More people across the country are using food banks compared to last year, and according to a recent report, over 14 million visits will be made to Canadian food banks in 2014 alone.

The annual HungerCounts report released by Food Bank Canada on Tuesday, revealed 841,191 people used a food bank in March — an overall 1 per cent increase since 2013. Although the number may not seem that large upon first glance, the report found food bank use in six out of 10 provinces increased this year, and 37 per cent of those helped were children.

Food Banks Canada Sides With NDP On Child Care Debate

OTTAWA - Canadian food banks are wading into the hot political debate over how best the federal government can help families with kids: give them tax breaks, as the Conservatives are doing, or invest in regulated child care, as the NDP proposes.

In its annual HungerCount report, Food Banks Canada comes down squarely on the side of the NDP.

It says the use of food banks remains 25 per cent higher than it was before the devastating global recession in 2008 and that 37 per cent of those helped are children.

Food Bank Canada report: 'Alarming' number of Canadians seek help

Food bank use in Canada increased slightly this year in comparison to 2013, and it remains significantly higher than it was before the economic recession, according to a report released Tuesday by Food Bank Canada.

In the month of March 2014, more than 840,000 people received food bank assistance, one per cent higher than the same snapshot period last year. More than a third of them were children, and nearly half of households helped were families with children.

University Students and Grads Are Using Food Banks More Than Ever

It's that time of year again, summer is almost a memory and children are heading back to school. Some students dread the first day of school, while others can't wait for new adventures, and to see the friends they've missed. For over 130,000 Ontario children back to school often comes as a welcome relief to the daily struggle of trying to find a healthy, nourishing breakfast.

The Ontario Association of Food Banks' network includes 125 direct member food banks that support over 300 breakfast clubs across the province. These clubs ensure that students have access to a balanced breakfast to help them focus on school instead of their growling bellies. Many of our member food banks also offer additional support through lunch and snack programs, backpack programs, and helping children obtain back-to-school essentials such as binders, paper, and stationary.

620,000 Military Families Rely on Food Pantries to Meet Basic Needs

This month, the US military announced that the air force had delivered more than 110,000 meal rations to stranded Yazidi refugees in Iraq, in a mission that prompted President Obama to hail “the skill and professionalism of our military, and the generosity of our people.”

Also this month, a new report found that the nation’s food pantries serve 620,000 families with a member in the military—another troubling indication that service members battling against poverty must often rely on the generosity of our charities.

1 In 6 Food Charities Could Close Down Soon, And 5 Other Disturbing Facts From A New Hunger Report

Every four years, Feeding America releases its massive “Hunger In America” (HIA) study to document how millions of volunteers and tens of thousands of anti-hunger charities bring aid to the tens of millions of people who live on the brink of hunger in the planet’s richest country. The newest HIA, released Monday, reports that 46.5 million people in 15.5 million households received food from the roughly 58,000 separate programs operated by the network’s affiliates.

Welfare minister urges local councils to invest in food banks

The welfare minister, Lord Freud, has been accused of "rowing away from the principle of welfare" after he urged local authorities to invest money in food banks, saying that it was "absolutely appropriate" that charities provided free food parcels for people who could not afford groceries.

Freud made his comments at a conference on welfare reform, after being asked by an audience member whether it was sustainable that working people were increasingly turning to food banks and hardship funds to get by.