Having spoken to some of the leaders in the emergency food space, I think I can safely say that demand is up by anywhere between 25% and 50%, depending on the region. I think we need to be very clear that the sector was haemorrhaging long before COVID came in. The vast majority of people who are food insecure in this country would never visit a food bank for a whole variety of reasons, which I won't get into here.
The folks who are showing up—racialized communities, women, young people—are groups that have historically been marginalized, and COVID has absolutely magnified that problem. Let's be very clear that people have been affected disproportionately by COVID. There's simply no way you can self-isolate if you're one of five people in a single apartment with one bathroom. There's no way if you're poorly employed that you're going to find a flexible employer, and there's no way you're going to buy extra food, because you simply have no money, often, to buy food in the first place.
There is much anxiety and stress in communities across this country, and many people showing up for the first time because they were shed from the labour market and they're showing up and saying, “I need help”.
For the short term I think the $100 million that was released, as I said in my remarks, has had a very good impact and supported many people through a very difficult time and will continue to be important in the medium term.
However, I think we do need to return to social supports and building incomes that will fireproof us over the long term. I've talked about some of those things. It is about income. Food will not solve hunger. Income will, and we need to have a strong social infrastructure and an economy that produces jobs that support people to actually make a living and take care of themselves and their families.