Canadians are struggling to afford basic necessities, Ottawa Food Bank says

By Saif Kaisar

“There are many Canadians, and right here in Ottawa as well, that are suffering from the stress of finances, or from struggling to afford the basic necessities,” said Rachel Wilson, Ottawa Food Bank Director.

A recent poverty study report released by the Angus Reid Institute reveals that one-in-six Canadian adults are unable to afford new clothes or good-quality groceries, one-in-seven have struggled with obtaining adequate housing, and one-in-five say an inability to afford dental care has been a chronic problem for them in their lives.

The study reveals 18% of respondents can't afford to purchase quality groceries. 25% of respondents stated they had to borrow money to purchase food.

According to the Ottawa Food Bank 2017 Hunger Report, the number of food bank clients in the city increased in 2017. It was 5.6% higher than in 2016.

The Angus Reid study report stated, “the equivalent of more than 1.5 million Canadian adults say they recently began getting food from a food bank or a similar service – or have had to rely on such services all their lives. This total is significantly higher than the estimated 850,000 people who use food banks each month, a likely by-product of the broader scope of this [Angus Reid Institute] question.”

The study report also revealed the following:

  • 31% of Canadians feel “very stressed about money” on a regular basis.
  • 52% believe poverty has been increasing where they live in recent years.
  • 30% are pessimistic about their finances over the next few years.
  • 43% believe their children's generation will be worse off than themselves.

“What we definitely see [at the Ottawa Food Bank], we've done studies ourselves that show about one-third of our clients don't eat fruit, fresh fruit, all week, or sometimes at all, and the same number for vegetables,” stated Wilson.

She added, “so people are eating low quality, dried food, that is really cheap and affordable.”

The Angus Reid study report also revealed that 43% of people have experienced not being able to afford good quality groceries, having to purchase what's cheap instead.

Wilson said that housing is one of the biggest issues in Ottawa, adding that establishing more affordable housing will give more people the ability to purchase higher quality food.

She stated, “whether it's people on waiting lists or people that are just spending way more than they should on the cost of housing. So having affordable housing is one of the first things we're encouraging the government to look at.”

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