Category: Social Issues: Hunger

Title:The poor still pay more: challenges low income families face in consuming a nutritious diet.
Author(s):Millway, James|split|Chan, Katherine|split|Stapleton, John|split|Cook, Brian
Subject:Food security – general
Publisher:Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity
Place of Publication:Toronto
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

Though much progress has been made with Ontario’s current Poverty Reduction Strategy, more needs to be done. We currently face an underlying challenge – here in Ontario, many people in poverty are facing hunger today. In 2009, over 375,000 Ontarians had to turn to food banks every month (a growth of 19 percent from last year alone), signaling the alarming effects of the recent recession on the diets and health of our most vulnerable residents. Though food banks have become the public face of our collective response to hunger, it is clear that in spite of their best efforts, food banks and community food initiatives are not a solution to hunger or poverty. Though social assistance has roughly kept pace with inflation since 2004, we are seeing an increasing gap between rising food inflation and social assistance rates, placing greater strain on social assistance recipients and requiring them to allocate a greater portion of their allowance to purchase food. Furthermore, certain food groups, and particularly dairy products have seen a surge in prices, making basic nutrition more expensive for low income families. Specifically, Canada’s milk prices are highest among its international peers as a result of our supply management system, where restrictive quotas have led to artificially inflated prices at the expense of its consumers. There is also a growing concern that basic access to food remains a challenge as “food deserts,” or low income neighbourhoods with limited access to food retailers providing healthy foods and fresh produce, exist in Toronto today. The report recommends: A new housing benefit geared to income and rental costs to free up constrained finances to purchase food Improved incentives for retailers and community groups to increase accessibility by low income communities to lower priced and healthier food options, particularly in urban “food deserts” The eventual elimination of the price influence of dairy marketing boards

Language:English
 Material Type:Report

F. SOCIAL ISSUES/F.15 HUNGER/2010 poor_still_pay_more.pdf

Title:HungerCount 2010: a comprehensive report on hunger and food bank use in Canada, and recommendations for change.
Corporate Author: Food Banks Canada
Subject:Food security – hunger, health|split|Food security – statistics, studies
Publisher:Food Banks Canada
Place of Publication:Toronto
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

Over the last two years, food bank use in Canada has risen by 28% – an unprecedented rate of growth. After four consecutive years of decline, demand for food banks has skyrocketed since the 2008-09 recession. This year, every province experienced an increase in the number of individuals requiring help, and nearly three-quarters of all Canadian food banks helped more people than in 2009. HungerCount shows that the effects of the recession are still being felt across the country. In March of this year, 80,150 people accessed a food bank for the first time – approximately the same level as twelve months earlier. March is a typical month for food bank usage, which means that more than 80,000 people walk through the door of a food bank for the first time every single month. The need for food assistance increased almost across the spectrum this year: food banks saw more adults, children, and youth; more families with children and more single people; more women and men; more Aboriginal people; more seniors; more people with disabilities. The picture of those who access food banks has remained remarkably consistent over the years, and 2010 is no different: 38% are children or youth under age 18; 51% of assisted households are families with children, and nearly half of these are two-parent families. A large percentage of those needing support (40%) are single-person households, many of them counting social assistance as their primary source of income. Though fewer people with jobs accessed food banks this year, households with income from current or recent employment are, at 17% of the total, still a significant proportion of those helped.

Language:English
 Material Type:Report

F. SOCIAL ISSUES/F.15 HUNGER/2010 HungerCount2010.pdf

Title:Food security for Edmonton: is it really something we should care about?
Author(s):Lipton, Becky
Subject:Food security – general
Publisher:Becky Lipton Research & Consulting
Place of Publication:Edmonton
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

Could we ever achieve complete food security – where every Edmontonian has enough healthy and safe food to eat, which we can supply in a sustainable manner, no matter what? This paper explores what achieving food security would mean, what factors would influence our ability, and our decisions to do so, what is really at stake, and what the ultimate benefits would be. The paper delves into some of the big picture factors like peak oil, climate change, food miles, and other international influences we have limited to no control over. It also looks at what makes Edmonton unique when it comes to food security. Things like how much food we export, the price of food, hunger in the city, our high quality soils, our micro-climates and our farmers all influence whether and how we should be thinking about food security. Finally a strategy is presented which builds on our strengths and proactively moves us towards a healthy, resilient and sustainable future.

Language:English
Series:The Edmonton Sustainability Papers – Discussion Paper 7
 Material Type:Report

F. SOCIAL ISSUES/F.15 HUNGER/2010 food_security_edmonton.pdf

Title:Every bite counts: climate justice and BC’s food system.
Author(s):Lee, Marc|split|Barbolet, Herb|split|Adams, Tegan|split|Thomson, Matt
Corporate Author: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC office
Subject:Food security – local food systems|split|Environmental issues – climate change
Publisher:Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC office
Place of Publication:Vancouver
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

The abundance of the modern supermarket is the ultimate product of a post-WWII food system based on industrial-scale agriculture, cheap fossil fuels and global trade. Examining our food through a climate change lens, however, suggests a rethink is in order — from reducing the greenhouse gases produced throughout the food system, to making the food system resilient to supply disruptions. BC also needs to develop a more just distribution of food, better support farmers, farmworkers and fishers, and seek healthier nutritional outcomes from our food system. This is not a task that can be left to market forces alone. It calls for a more coherent planning framework at all levels of the food system. The supermarket cannot ensure food security, which according to the Community Nutritionists Council of BC, “exists when all community residents obtain a safe, personally acceptable, nutritious diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes healthy choices, community self-reliance and equal access for everyone.” Such a systems approach to food is becoming widespread in BC and other jurisdictions. BC is starting in an excellent position to move forward, with most domestic food production occurring on small farms, while ties to local markets have been strengthening through initiatives like weekly farmers’ markets, community shared agriculture projects, and home delivery services. BC also has the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), although its erosion in recent years is cause for concern. These ingredients point towards a food system that could be, with strong public policy actions, just and sustainable.

Language:English
Material Type:Report

F. SOCIAL ISSUES/F.15 HUNGER/2010 every_bite_counts.pdf