Food bank usage in OttawaVanier higher than anywhere else in Ontario

The Ontario riding where the most people per capita usedfood banks to help fill their fridges and pantrieslast year was right here in Ottawa.

Feed Ontario released an interactive map Wednesday, detailing food bank usage per provincial riding.

• Food bank map helps politicians see hunger in their own backyard
• Number of Ontario seniors who used food banks jumped a 'staggering' 10% last year

It found that 15 per cent of residents inOttawaVaniervisited a food bank in 2018 more than 16,500 people. It was the riding with the highest per capita number of visitsin the entire province.

Three ridings in the city OttawaVanier, Ottawa South and Ottawa WestNepean were among the 10across the province with the most food bank users per capita.

A combined 35,550 people went tofood banks in those ridings at least once last year.

Ottawa-Vanier highest in Ontario for food bank use, study finds

5 years ago

Duration 1:14

Rachel Wilson, director of communications and development at the Ottawa Food Bank, says there's a lot of "hidden hunger" in Ottawa. Around 15 per cent of people living in Ottawa-Vanier visited a food bank in 2018.

'Food ends up being a luxury'

Cynthia Greer lives around the corner from Partage VanierFood Bank. She and her partner havelately been visiting the food bankabout twicea month.

She's not surprised to hear her neighbourhoodmade the top of the list.

"It's a lot of low-income families," she said, adding that thecostof groceries has gone up and social programs haven't kept up.

"You still have to pay your rent, you still have to pay your bills, so at the end of the day food ends up being a luxury."

She gets fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, eggs, beef, pasta, canned goods, bread, cereal, peanut butter and some toiletries at the food bank. It's not enough to get through the whole month, she said, but it helps.

She comes toward the end of each month, andher partner visits at the beginning.

"In the last little while, they have literally saved us," Greer said.

There are between 800 and 1,000 people like her who get food each month at Portage Vanier.

Helena Arruda, director of counsellingand community services with the Vanier Community Service Centre, said they're seeing more people each month.

"We're seeing a lot more cutbacks thanincreases in [social] services," said Arruda.

"People are paying more for vegetables and fruits and food, but they're not getting more money at the end of the month."

'Food ends up being a luxury'

5 years ago

Duration 0:41

Cynthia Greer says she's been using a Vanier food bank once a month since experiencing a sudden loss of income.

'Hidden hunger'

Arruda sees a lot of large families and newcomers, but also many single-income families and seniors.

Rachel Wilson, director of communications and development at the Ottawa Food Bank, said the city has a lot of what she calls "hidden hunger."

She thinks part of the reason why so many Ottawans are using food banks is because it has a strong gig economy.

"We have a lot of people who are employed by the government, and then after that the other jobs that are available are few and far between or on contract, and there are those jobs that are minimum wage and they're just not enough to meet the costof living," Wilson said.

Affordable housing is a real issue for them, with 10,000 people on the waiting list, and thenumber keepsincreasing.

Wilson said that although she knew there was a problem in the city, she didn't expect OttawaVanierto have more people using food banks than anywhere in the province.

She said the study highlights the need to look into the community's issues further.

"It's like a canary in the coal mine. It's telling us that there are things happening in our community that need to be addressed," she said.

The study found that more than a third of food bank users in Ontariowere under 18 years old. Throughout Ontario, the number of visits increased by threeper cent over 2017.