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60% more Canadians per month expected to use food banks, other programs in 2023, survey finds
Scarborough's need for food banks is so great that one non-profit is opening a 6th location
加拿大人有全職工作仍三餐不繼，靠食物銀行過活
2023-04-25 16:22
通膨飆升持續擠壓加拿大人買菜預算，多倫多（Toronto）“每日麵包食物銀行”負責人表示，每個月都有數以十萬計民眾湧入食物銀行，其中許多人有正職工作但仍無法維持生計。
COVID-19 疫情期間，使用“每日麵包食物銀行”服務的人數增加一倍，每月平均有12萬人需要救濟，且人流持續成長，今年3月增至創紀錄的27萬人。(圖/shutterstock)
“每日麵包食物銀行”（Daily Bread Food Bank）執行長海瑟林頓（Neil Hetherington）最近接受法新社訪問時說：“這個國家絕對已陷入糧食危機，多倫多市肯定是這樣。”
COVID-19（2019冠狀病毒疾病）疫情期間，使用“每日麵包食物銀行”服務的人數增加一倍，每月平均有12萬人需要救濟，且人流持續成長，今年3月增至創紀錄的27萬人。
海瑟林頓說，每日麵包合作的多倫多地區128家食物銀行中，許多新麵孔都有全職工作，但他們還是入不敷出。
加拿大3月整體通膨已從去年6月高峰8.1%降至4.3%，但糧食通膨率居高不下，與去年同期相比增加約10%。
海瑟林頓指出，加重加拿大人日常開銷重擔的還有居住成本，這是因為去年房地產價格暴漲，無論是租屋還是買屋都讓加拿大人吃不消。
根據房地產研究公司Urbanation的報告，加拿大最大城市多倫多的套房公寓，每月成本平均來到2124加幣（約新台幣4萬8936元），比去年約380加幣高出許多。
民眾帕奇森（Ryan Patcheson）18個月前開始來到食物銀行，他領取身心障礙補助，但還是不足以生活。
30多歲的帕奇森告訴法新社，“每個月底（從食物銀行）得到幾袋米與一些馬鈴薯，影響真的天差地遠的”。
在蒙特婁（Montreal），來到食物銀行的民眾有著同樣的絕望感，也有著同樣的需要，聖吉爾伯特（Saint-Gilbert）教堂外排了等待領取物資的長長人龍。這座教堂的地下室19日也被阿勒特-上帝協會（Association Alerte-Providence）用來分送食物。
經營阿勒特-上帝協會30多年並在約10年前成立食物銀行的亞勒特（Paula Alerte）說，食物銀行服務的“需求每周都在增加”，捐贈物資總是不夠，所以她有時候會自行購買大量的食物，分送給救濟對象。
她說：“我知道每樣東西都變貴，但沒有食物我們無法生活。需求就是會有。”她停了一會兒，把數袋食物發送給民眾，之後又說：“每個星期三，我都擔心沒有足夠食物發給大家。”
教堂外的排隊人龍移動緩慢，隊伍內大多是年輕人、退休人士與移民。
20歲的烏克蘭人斯洛博迪努克（Sofiia Slobodianiuk）最近落腳加拿大，這是她第一次來到食物銀行。她說：“超市的蔬菜對我來說真的太貴了，所以我隻好求助食物銀行。”
加拿大物價飆漲日子苦 求助食物銀行人數攀升
（法新社多倫多25日電） 通膨飆升持續擠壓加拿大人買菜預算，多倫多（Toronto）「每日麵包食物銀行」負責人表示，每個月都有數以十萬計民眾湧入食物銀行，其中許多人有正職工作但仍無法維持生計。
「每日麵包食物銀行」（Daily Bread Food Bank）執行長海瑟林頓（Neil Hetherington）最近接受法新社訪問時說：「這個國家絕對已陷入糧食危機，多倫多市肯定是這樣。」
COVID-19（2019冠狀病毒疾病）疫情期間，使用「每日麵包食物銀行」服務的人數增加一倍，每月平均有12萬人需要救濟，且人流持續成長，今年3月增至創紀錄的27萬人。
海瑟林頓說，每日麵包合作的多倫多地區128家食物銀行中，許多新麵孔都有全職工作，但他們還是入不敷出。
加拿大3月整體通膨已從去年6月高峰8.1%降至4.3%，但糧食通膨率居高不下，與去年同期相比增加約10%。
海瑟林頓指出，加重加拿大人日常開銷重擔的還有居住成本，這是因為去年房地產價格暴漲，無論是租屋還是買屋都讓加拿大人吃不消。
根據房地產研究公司Urbanation的報告，加拿大最大城市多倫多的套房公寓，每月成本平均來到2124加幣（約新台幣4萬8936元），比去年約380加幣高出許多。
民眾帕奇森（Ryan Patcheson）18個月前開始來到食物銀行，他領取身心障礙補助，但還是不足以生活。
30多歲的帕奇森告訴法新社，「每個月底（從食物銀行）得到幾袋米與一些馬鈴薯，影響真的天差地遠的」。
在蒙特婁（Montreal），來到食物銀行的民眾有著同樣的絕望感，也有著同樣的需要，聖吉爾伯特（Saint-Gilbert）教堂外排了等待領取物資的長長人龍。這座教堂的地下室19日也被阿勒特-上帝協會（Association Alerte-Providence）用來分送食物。
經營阿勒特-上帝協會30多年並在約10年前成立食物銀行的亞勒特（Paula Alerte）說，食物銀行服務的「需求每周都在增加」，捐贈物資總是不夠，所以她有時候會自行購買大量的食物，分送給救濟對象。
Toronto food banks are at 'breaking point,' says Daily Bread CEO, calling on province to boost social supports
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-food-bank-visits-record-1.6800927#:~:text=
Food bank wants to see a return of the provincially provided top-up to social assistance recipients
Lane Harrison · CBC News
The Daily Bread Food Bank is spending $1.8 million a month a food. Before the onset of COVID-19 it spent $1.5 million a year, its CEO says. (Pelin Sidki/CBC)
More people visited Daily Bread Food Bank locations in March than at any time in the charity's 40-year history, its CEO said Tuesday while calling on the province to do more to help people fight the high price of groceries.
Prior to the pandemic, the network of 128 food banks across the Greater Toronto Area saw about 65,000 clients a month. In March, that number more than quadrupled to 270,000, Neil Hetherington said at a news conference Tuesday. The charity is also now spending $1.8 million a month on food. Before the onset of COVID-19, it spent $1.5 million a year.
"Let me be very clear: we are in a crisis. The Daily Bread Food Bank and food banks all across the city are at a breaking point," Hetherington said.
Hetherington added the problem is not one that charities can fix. Instead, he called on the provincial government to provide people on social assistance with the same emergency supports they were provided during the pandemic.
Neil Hetherington, CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank, said the rise in food insecurity can't be solved by charities alone. (Pelin Sidki/CBC)
The food bank wants to see a return of the provincially provided top-up to social assistance recipients, which was $100 for singles and $200 families. The top-up was available between March and July 31, 2020, but it was provided at the discretion of caseworkers. The food bank would like to see it return as an automatic benefit to cover the high cost of food people are currently grappling with.
'Some nights, you just don't do dinner': Toronto is becoming even more unaffordable, data confirms
In response to Hetherington's comments, a spokesperson for Ontario's ministry of children, community and social services said the Ontario Disability Support Program will be tied to inflation beginning in July 2023, a move originally announced in November 2022.
The statement to CBC News also pointed to a 400 per cent increase in the ODSP earning exemption, which allows recipients to earn $1,000 per month while receiving the benefit, up from $200. The exemption increase took effect in February.
How it got to this point
Daily Bread is also in a precarious financial position. The charity put aside $33 million to get through the pandemic and that money will run out in 18 to 24 months, Hetherington said.
When that reserve dries up, he said they'll have to raise more money or food donations. Most crucially, he said, the number of clients will need to go down, which is why they're calling on the province to step in.
"We got here because we chose to legislate individuals to live in poverty through income supports that are abysmal," Hetherington said.
Even with the help of food banks, Sue-Ellen Patcheson and her four roommates usually have one or two meals a day. (Pelin Sidki/CBC)
Much of the food bank's clientele are people whose income comes from social assistance programs like Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program, he said.
Ontario Works provides recipients with $733 a month and ODSP provides up to $1,228. Hetherington said those are both too low, with the ODSP payment being $900 below the poverty line in Toronto.
Sue-Ellen Patcheson is a volunteer and client of the Daily Bread Food Bank who relies on government assistance. Before the pandemic, she said she and the four people she lives with had $300 a month leftover for food. These days, she said that budget is a bit lower and doesn't buy half as much.
Daily Bread is in a precarious financial position. The charity put aside $33 million to get through the pandemic and that money will run out in 18 to 24 months, Hetherington said. (Pelin Sidki/CBC)
"Most days we eat maybe one meal, occasionally two meals a day. [Without the food bank] that would be reduced even further and I can't imagine," she said.
Food bank visits have also increased among people whose primary source of income is employment, Hetherington said. The percentage of those clients has doubled in the last year, from 16 per cent to 33 per cent.
"It used to be that if you went to school, got an education, got a job, you would be just fine. That isn't the case anymore," he said.
Valerie Tarasuk said the high price of groceries is driving more people to food banks. (CBC)
Valerie Tarasuk is a professor in the University of Toronto's department of nutritional sciences and the lead investigator of PROOF, a research program looking into policy interventions that can reduce food insecurity in Canada.
She said food inflation is worsening the severity of food insecurity people are experiencing, driving more people to food banks.
PROOF's 2021 food insecurity report, the most recent, found 5.8 million Canadians are food insecure across the 10 provinces, Tarasuk said. About one in four of those people end up at food banks, she said.
"What I think is happening now with food price inflation is we've got more people being pushed to that extreme point and they're surfacing in numbers like Daily Bread's," she said.
Lane Harrison is a web writer with CBC Toronto. He previously worked for CBC New Brunswick in Saint John. You can reach him at lane.harrison@cbc.ca
