Photo credit: Flickr (AshtonPal)
The outrageous price of cauliflower created a flurry of discussion online this past month when many Canadians put produce purchases on hold in the face of mounting price hikes. The weight of this reality is even heavier for many families already dealing with tough choices and tight budgets as they struggle to put food on the table.
Food costs are a significant part of any household budget, but they take up a larger portion of income for Canadian households experiencing poverty. This often results in tough choices, such as choosing between rent and heating, or the groceries.
Why should we be worried?
The term food security refers to how regularly accessible nutritious and culturally appropriate food is, both in terms of cost and physical distance. Some Canadians are regularly dependent on charitable food programs for the food they need, while others experiencing food insecurity are cutting meals and forced to choose cheaper but less healthy options to make ends meet.
People with chronic diseases who are facing food insecurity have a harder time managing their medical conditions. Children experiencing food insecurity often perform more poorly in school than their peers and their development may suffer from lack of proper nutrition.
Finally, as with all manifestations of poverty, people experiencing food insecurity face dehumanizing stigma and an eroding self-confidence that pushes a better quality of life even further out of reach.
The Canadian Context
Unfortunately, the affordability of healthy, wholesome food is not a new issue in Canada. In 2012, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Shutter, declared that too many Canadians are food insecure due to the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor as well as the history of marginalization faced by Indigenous people in Canada. De Shutter explained that one in ten families in Canada with a child under the age of six lacks enough food to meet their daily needs.
The question of affordability goes beyond whether or not a family is working enough to afford the grocery bill. Many aspects of our food system that are out of their immediate control, including how we source what we eat, play a big part in the final price at checkout.
Canada imports a large amount of its fruit and vegetables, especially during the winter months when local fresh produce is harder to come by. Poor growing conditions brought on by the weather phenomenon El Nino in growing areas such as California have reduced crop yields, meaning scarce quantities resulting in rising prices. In addition, oil prices have tanked, and the loonie, currently dependent on a demand for oil, has been hovering around 70 cents on the American dollar, making produce imports even more expensive.
Inuit living in the north are at greater risk. . In some cases, these Indigenous populations no longer depend on traditional means of providing food for their families, such as hunting. This is largely due to relocation of wildlife caused by climate change, the loss of ancestral knowledge, or family disintegration resulting from poverty and the residential school system. Many in the North now face even greater price hikes due to the cost of transporting food up from the south.
Moving ahead
What‘s to be done?
De Shutter cited Canada’s failure to implement a better minimum wage, our low social assistance rates, and the marginalization of Indigenous people as factors putting Canadians at risk of food insecurity. We need a more robust, locally-focused food system that supports producers and safeguards food security, especially during downturns in the economy like the one we are currently experiencing.
The Dignity for All campaign calls on the federal government to legislate and implement an anti-poverty plan which would include a National Right to Food policy. This would include mechanisms to identify and reduce threats to availability and the reduction of barriers for people who are geographically isolated. Food security is just one element that must be considered for the elimination of poverty.
Recently, the government has stated its intention for a number of measures, including the development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy.
As people of faith, we are encouraged to care for the least of those among us (Matthew 25:40). This means we must call on our government to hold to their promises and further prioritize the fight against poverty. Together we can shift people’s daily realities and change lives.
Click here for the Dignity for All’s National Anti-Poverty Plan for Canada.
