320,000 Use Food Banks In Ontario

A lack of steady employment, reasonably-priced housing and realistic social assistance payments mean children and the province's disabled continue to rely on food bank donations as well, said the Ontario Association of Food Banks study. Although food bank usage is highest in Toronto, the study shows hunger is becoming more prevalent in Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor and Sudbury. "A lot of people are going to work hungry, they're going to school hungry," said Adam Spence, the association's executive director. "It's shocking, the level of hunger that exists." A "staggering" number of food bank users are new Canadians who are getting a tough introduction to the country, Spence said. Their professional credentials aren't being recognized, and the poverty rate has increased from one in four new Canadians living in poverty in 1980 to one in three in 2000, he said. "More often, they're employed in service sector or low-wage occupations," Spence said. "They're less able to collect and obtain assets like homes. The success story that we want to believe about Canadians coming to this country as a land of opportunity is not true." Overall, all Ontario residents are having a tough time putting food on the table because of the loss of well-paying jobs, dwindling affordable housing, rising energy prices and a lack of education, he said. While the average family spends $142 a week on groceries, the average low-income family can only spend $72 a week, often on unhealthy but more affordable food like weiners and french fries, the study found. Food banks are having difficulty keeping up with demand, leaving many feeling like someone "with their finger in a dike," the report said. Just over 20 per cent of Ontario food banks don't have enough food to meet the need in their community, the study said. The provincial government has to start addressing some of these root causes of poverty or Ontario residents will pay through the increased cost to the health care system and the economy, Spence said. ... http://www.thestar.com/article/274524 [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on November 8, 2007]

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