Food Insecurity in Canada: A Crisis Our Social Safety Net Was Never Designed to Handle
Food insecurity in Canada is rising — new policy responses are needed
👉 About 1 in 4 Canadians are living in food-insecure households, including around 2.5 million children
👉 Food banks are seeing record demand and a growing number of users are working Canadians
So what’s going on?
Canada’s social safety net is not keeping up, but it was never designed to address food insecurity.
In our latest episode of The Politics of Money, IFSD convenes leading experts to unpack the issue.
💬 “Food insecurity is not a food issue — it’s a resource issue.”
IFSD's Managing Director Helaina Gaspard speaks with Sarah Stern (Executive Director, Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security), Valerie Tarasuk (Professor Emerita, University of Toronto), Craig Gundersen (Snee Family Endowed Professor, Baylor University), and Jennifer Robson (Associate Professor, Political Management, Carleton University).
Their discussion digs into:
👉 About 1 in 4 Canadians are living in food-insecure households, including around 2.5 million children
👉 Food banks are seeing record demand and a growing number of users are working Canadians
So what’s going on?
Canada’s social safety net is not keeping up, but it was never designed to address food insecurity.
In our latest episode of The Politics of Money, IFSD convenes leading experts to unpack the issue.
💬 “Food insecurity is not a food issue — it’s a resource issue.”
IFSD's Managing Director Helaina Gaspard speaks with Sarah Stern (Executive Director, Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security), Valerie Tarasuk (Professor Emerita, University of Toronto), Craig Gundersen (Snee Family Endowed Professor, Baylor University), and Jennifer Robson (Associate Professor, Political Management, Carleton University).
Their discussion digs into:
- Why food bank use is rising—even among employed households
- The limits of existing supports like EI and the Canada Child Benefit
- How responsiveness, timing, and targeting of income supports matter
- What lessons Canada could draw from programs like SNAP in the U.S.
👉 At its core, the challenge is this:
How do we design a social safety net that actually prevents food insecurity—rather than responds after the fact?
For more, please also check out our special live event at the University of Ottawa, Hunger in a Time of Rising Food Costs: The Immediate and Sustained Impact of Food Insecurity.
How do we design a social safety net that actually prevents food insecurity—rather than responds after the fact?
For more, please also check out our special live event at the University of Ottawa, Hunger in a Time of Rising Food Costs: The Immediate and Sustained Impact of Food Insecurity.
