More people than ever before are turning to food banks in Canada for help.
More than two million Canadians used a food bank in March of this year, compared to one million users in March of 2018, according to the Hunger Count report by Food Banks Canada.
One-third of those people are users, while many others who use a food bank are employed.
“People who are employed who might not be able to keep up with the rising cost of living because their purchasing power of that income has been decreasing so substantially,” said Richard Matern, the Director of Research with Food Banks Canada.
He calls demand “unprecedented”, in a society with surging grocery and home prices affecting nearly every Canadian.
The report is calling for a groceries and essentials tax benefit, modernizing EI and ensuring all federal benefits are linked to inflation.
“What British Columbia is seeing is what …