Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm here today as CEO of the Mississauga Food Bank, the leader of a network of 55 food banks and food programs in the city of Mississauga.
Our vision is a Mississauga where no one goes hungry, and we work to achieve that by providing and promoting access to healthy and appropriate food.
For over 40 years now, food banks have been around to provide emergency food support to those facing financial poverty. You have relied on us to provide for the food needs of those who are living in financial poverty in our communities, but we, like all food banks, are charitable organizations fuelled by community donations. We receive just 2% of our funding from the regional government, with the special COVID funding ending this year and the COVID relief funding from the federal government being spent long ago.
It now costs far more to operate the food bank than it did a few years ago. Because of the price of food, the price of real estate, living wages to ensure that our staff aren’t living in poverty and the increased number of people using the food bank, what used to cost about $3 million a year to operate to provide for our neighbours now costs $8 million a year.
I’m here today to speak about the grocery rebate that was a part of the budget and intended to give targeted relief for low- and modest-income Canadians. I want to share a little bit with you about the families this targets, those we’re seeing at the Mississauga Food Bank agency network. We're serving an increasing number of households. Almost 5% of the entire city of Mississauga now uses the food bank. That's 73% more than before the pandemic. What’s worse, with the rates of increase we're seeing, it will be one in 13 people by 2027.
Mississauga being the location of Pearson airport, many asylum seekers and other newcomers land here, including many Ukrainian temporary residents, and we are now setting up programs to meet their specific needs, including setting up temporary food banks in the hotels where they are housed by IRCC to ensure that they have food in their first weeks in Canada. For many of those folks and their families, the food bank is their only access to food.
Whether newcomers in a hotel or low-wage workers living in basement apartments, it’s not structured government support that's ensuring their basic needs are met right now. It’s charitable organizations and community donations.
People often ask me what it will take to reduce food bank use, and the answer is twofold and very straightforward. People need more income to afford their basic needs. The other major one is housing that's treated as a human right and not as something that builds investments.
This brings me to the grocery rebate. Any money that goes into the wallets and pockets of those living in poverty is a good thing, especially when it comes to them in this format, automatically and in cash, so that they can spend on what they need most, but this rebate will not make a significant difference beyond the week or month when it's received. An extra $234 or $467 provides relief but not a solution.
The average monthly income of food bank users in Mississauga is $1,531. Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Mississauga is now $2,300, 20% more than this time last year, so an individual is already $800 short before even paying any bills, let alone purchasing food. That's why they come to us probably, on average, eight times throughout the year.
What they need is significant, sustained support as they struggle to afford all of those necessities. Without this, they'll continue to make those impossible choices and sacrifices, even with the charitable support they receive. For those suffering from poverty, there is so much more to manage than just finances and balancing expenses, food, rent and medication. We can’t underestimate the toll it takes on someone’s mental, emotional and physical health when they live with constant worry, fear and stress.
Most recently, we've noticed an alarming topic come up with some of our clients who have shared suicidal ideation with our team, including that they are considering medical assistance in death because they feel they cannot continue to grind away living in abject poverty. No one should feel that death is the only way out.
We strongly support investment in programs that create an income floor for all Canadians. Whether they are disability benefits, reforms to EI, investments in the Canada child benefit or the expansion of the Canada workers benefit, programs like these ensure that no one can fall through the cracks to the point where life doesn't seem possible.
I join with my colleague today in asking you to prioritize these types of assistance so that they can be expanded towards real poverty reduction and elimination.
I offer the partnership and support of community-facing organizations, like the Mississauga Food Bank, to join with you in making that happen.
Thank you.