Finance Committee on May 28th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Great. Thank you, Ms. Secord.

We will now continue, with Mr. Hetherington from the Daily Bread Food Bank.

[Neil Hetherington, Chief Executive Officer, Daily Bread Food Bank]

Good morning. My name is Neil Hetherington. I have the awesome privilege of being the CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank. The Daily Bread is Canada's largest food bank, providing more than 90% of emergency food support across the city of Toronto through a network of 214 food banks and food programs.

Last year, visits to food banks in Toronto reached a record of 4.1 million visits. For context, it took us 28 years to get to one million visits, two years to get to two million visits, one year to get to three million visits, and here we are at now 4.1 million visits. We now feed one in 10 Torontonians. We will continue to feed that need and use those staggering statistics and the stories and people behind them in order to advocate at all three levels of government to be able to change the situation that we're in.

Each of the individuals who comes to the food bank has their own story, but there are three areas where we advocate the most. One is affordable housing, the second is income supports and the third is the decrease of precarious employment.

We want to thank the government for its work in bringing about the Canada disability benefit. This, we believe, will bring a marked improvement to the lives of the people we serve on a regular basis. We are also deeply encouraged to see the groceries and essentials benefit come into force, as well as funding for the permanent national school food program. However, as we celebrate these important measures, each of us in this room knows that there is still more to do.

Over one in four Canadians now is experiencing food insecurity, and we are seeing this on the front lines every single day. While there are several factors driving it, the lack of affordable housing is key. When budgets are tight, rent eats first. Both nationally and in Toronto, over 90% of food bank clients are renters. One in five—this is a staggering statistic—food bank users spend 100% of their income on rent and utilities, relying completely on friends, family and charity in order to pay for food and transportation and all of the basics.

We applaud the government for the deep investment through Build Canada Homes to increase the supply of deeply affordable and social housing. This is critically important, but investing in housing supply is not going to help people who are struggling right now. The federal Canada housing benefit, launched in 2020 and administered through the bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories, is set to end in March 2028 and has reached only about 6% of renter households living in unaffordable housing.

In our submission, I am recommending something that is far-reaching and has the possibility to bring significant hope and change to Canadians. We are proposing a federal tax credit on rent paid by low-income households. Provinces such as Manitoba already have a renter affordable tax credit, but the lack of a Canada-wide, immediate and income-based approach to housing affordability is leaving many low-income renters without any support.

Housing is a human right. No individuals should be forced to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table. A simple, income-tested tax credit against rent paid could help millions of Canadian renters live with dignity. It's simple and targeted, with maximum allowable deductions set by the government based on the fiscal realities that we all face.

Second, another important measure that will unlock millions of dollars for people living in deep poverty is improving access to the disability tax credit, popularly known as the DTC. The DTC is no longer just a tax credit. It is a key gateway for people to access several federal disability supports, including the Canada disability benefit, but many barriers are preventing the majority of people with disabilities from accessing these supports. As a result, people with disabilities make up one in four food bank clients as they struggle to get by.

We're glad to see the changes introduced in the spring economic update that will make the DTC more accessible, and let's build on that progress by broadening the DTC's definition of disability, so that individuals receiving disability support through social assistance in any province or territory can also qualify for the federal disability benefit. Let's also pair that with targeted improvements to the DTC's application process and navigation supports that are required.

Right now, the federal government is putting together the national food security strategy to tackle the root causes of food insecurity. Ensuring that people have adequate incomes through supports like the Canada disability benefit and a rental tax credit will be essential to that success. When people can afford housing and their basic needs, they can raise healthy families and they can thrive in community, and I know that collectively that's what we all want to have happen.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

That's great, Mr. Hetherington.

This is just a quick reminder to witnesses on behalf of the interpreters: Please do not touch the mic or shuffle papers too closely to the mic when it is on, as it hurts their ears.

Now we'll hear from our final witness this morning, Ms. Ramze Rezaee from Right to Food.

[Jasmine Ramze Rezaee, Director, Policy and Community Action, Right To Food]

Thank you.

Good morning, and thank you for having me, Chair. It's great to see some familiar faces in the room and to be among such wonderful presenters.

My name is Jasmine Ramze Rezaee. I'm the director of policy and community action at Right to Food. We are a national food security organization here in Canada. We're leading the community food centre movement and we're connected to more than 400 partners across the country.

Today, May 28, is actually World Hunger Day, and hunger, as you can appreciate, is a growing concern around the world, including here in Canada.

We are a talented, resourceful and abundant nation, but we continue to grapple with an uncomfortable reality: Nearly a quarter of our population, as Neil mentioned, is food insecure. That's almost 10 million Canadians, including 2.4 million children. In a country as wealthy as ours, many people can't afford to eat.

Hunger in Canada is not primarily about food scarcity in the way it may be in other parts of the world. Our grocery aisles are well stocked. We talk about food insecurity because, for millions of Canadians, there simply isn't enough money to afford food, especially healthy food.

Food insecurity tracks income insecurity far more closely than it tracks food availability in our country, which means one of the key solutions to food insecurity is improving people's incomes directly. Our pre-budget submission was co-created with partners across our network, and I'm very pleased to share that it was endorsed by 180 Canadian organizations.

It outlines four recommendations, but I won't go into detail.

One is to set a national target to cut household food insecurity in half and eliminate severe food insecurity.

The second is around—as other speakers have mentioned—improving the Canada groceries and essentials benefit. That benefit is a great step in the right direction, but right now the amount is not adequate to make an actual, tangible difference in reducing food insecurity at the household level.

We're also calling for improvements to the Canada disability benefit, very much in a similar vein to what Neil has shared, and we're calling for greater investment in indigenous food sovereignty, particularly in the north, where food insecurity is not just a reflection of inadequate incomes but is also about indigenous relations to the land, access to land and removing barriers to traditional foods.

For all of the reasons I've just mentioned, we believe the federal government's recently announced national food security strategy needs a strong income security lens. We penned a sector-wide letter to several ministers a couple of months ago, calling for income security to be a key pillar of that strategy, but we're concerned that it might be glossed over. We're certain that if we don't address inadequate incomes, food insecurity will continue to proliferate in our country, regardless of broader food systems discussions.

Perhaps the most important point I want to impart to the committee today is this: Canada's food insecurity crisis is entirely solvable. We already know the policies that reduce poverty and hunger. What is required from the government and from all parties is the political courage to act.

Municipalities across the country are declaring food insecurity emergencies, but the issue isn't receiving comparable federal attention. When 10 million people are struggling to afford enough food, it's not a marginal issue. It's not a reflection of individual failures or poor decision-making. It's a structural economic issue tied to rising housing costs, labour market precarity and a social safety net that hasn't kept pace with the cost of living. The rising cost of food has only made things worse.

One in three workers in Canada is now precariously employed, and many of those folks are food insecure. What's festering in communities across the country is profound stress and anxiety about the future. We're hearing from people from all walks of life who are really struggling to make ends meet: people working full-time jobs who can't buy fresh produce, parents skipping meals to feed their kids, and people taking on more and more personal debt. All of this has devastating economic, health, education and social costs for our society.

Community organizations are doing everything to respond to rising needs, but their rapid expansion is itself evidence that governments have off-loaded the responsibility of upholding the right to food onto an underfunded and overstretched sector. We're asking you to treat food insecurity with the same urgency being applied to other major national challenges.

Again, we're a resourceful and abundant nation, but how we share our collective wealth matters deeply, and right now, too many households are being told to hold on a little while longer while their quality of life steadily erodes. At Right to Food, we're ready to work with you to make hunger a thing of the past.

Thank you so much for your time, and I welcome any questions you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Great. Thank you very much for that.

We will now begin with Ms. Cody for six minutes, please.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you, and through you, Chair, thank you to the witnesses for coming today. I think it's a really important topic here with the rise in unaffordability.

I'd like to direct my questions, if I might, to Neil Hetherington.

You mentioned a very high increase in the number of those who have accessed the food bank in the past year. How much has that demand for food bank services increased from five or 10 years ago?

[Neil Hetherington]

It has increased by about 350% to 400%.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Wow. Okay.

Have you seen any change in the demographics, like more families, younger or older Canadians or new Canadians, or is there a surge in all groups seeking your organization's services?

[Neil Hetherington]

There are some patterns in the demographics. The one that I think is most alarming is that the highest growth rate right now is among individuals aged 19 to 44, because 60% of them have a post-secondary education, and 50% of them have full-time employment. They've done everything right. They went to school, they got a job and they're working hard, yet that social contract we used to have that said, “You'll be fine,” has been broken.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

As a mother and a grandmother, I'm deeply concerned about the younger mothers being able to feed their children. I hear a lot of stories about how not only does the increase in the cost of formula make it difficult for mothers to obtain, even if they can find it on the shelf, but they are now watering it down to feed the children so it lasts longer.

Are you seeing an increase in the number of mothers seeking assistance for items like diapers and formula, and are those items readily available at food banks when needed?

[Neil Hetherington]

You're reminding me of a mother whom I talked with just this past week. That was the struggle that she was going through: She was watering down the food for her child.

When you hear those stories, you say, “We can do better as a country.”

Are we seeing more? The answer is yes, but we also saw historically positive benefits from the Canada child benefit. We did see marginal changes that happened.

We know that when there are interventions and when there are smart policy alternatives brought forward that are targeted to those types of groups, we can make a difference.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Just this week alone, the Prime Minister racked up a nearly $200,000 fine-dining bill on his flights. How many meals could you serve Canadians with $200,000?

[Neil Hetherington]

I understand that was the case. I understand that there were multiple flights, and it worked out to $150 per person. The way that we look at those types of numbers is the way that we look at every single dollar at the Daily Bread Food Bank: One dollar equals one meal.

There's an opportunity for us to look at the incomes that people have across the country and an opportunity for us to invest in deeply affordable housing and say that for every dollar that we invest, there is a tremendous benefit for people who can now thrive in the community.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you.

I'd like to move on to Judith Barry.

Thank you for coming today.

We have seen the government roll out a series of programs that are highly questionable in terms of their efficacy. How many kids does your program feed each year?

[Judith Barry]

Breakfast Club of Canada, with multiple community partners, is feeding close to 900,000 children each day.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

What is your budget?

[Judith Barry]

It's many millions. It's close to $50 million.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

It's about $50 million. Okay.

You're saying that the government's long-touted school food program has cost the taxpayer four times as much, at $260 million, yet it only feeds half as many kids as your organization.

How many kids do you think you could feed on the same costing basis?

[Judith Barry]

Just to be clear, Breakfast Club of Canada is collaborating to build a sustainable cost-sharing model. We're not the only ones supporting that number of breakfasts. That's one thing that needs to be said.

We celebrated and acknowledged the implementation of the national school food program, because all levels of government, the community and the private sector have been involved for decades. We finally welcomed the federal program as part of the solution.

We think of it as a first foundation that has been implemented through the National School Food Program Act, and now we need to build on that.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Have you seen food insecurity increasing over these past few years?

[Judith Barry]

Absolutely. As with everyone else, we've seen household food insecurity rising, and we've seen the number of students attending breakfast programs increasing as well.

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Even though these programs are already in place, insecurity is increasing.

My concern is for the many seniors, who don't attend school, who reach out to me saying that they're struggling with higher costs for food. Some seniors are saying they're $100 short each month, requiring them to go to the food bank, and a lot more are falling through the cracks. They have a lot of pride and don't want to go to the food banks.

What would your approach do differently, especially for seniors, and how would you measure whether it's actually working?

[Judith Barry]

For seniors, that is a very good question. For the past 30 years, I've been dedicating my time to supporting students and vulnerable children. Having said that, we know that seniors are vulnerable as well. We need Canada to be a country where everyone can access nutritious food whenever they need or want it, and where everyone has sufficient income to meet their needs.

My colleagues have submitted great recommendations to support seniors, families and community members in this country. We need to team up and ensure that there are complementary policies—

[Connie Cody, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

You would agree that we're failing—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Ms. Cody. That concludes your time.

We'll continue now. I believe Ms. Sidhu and Dr. Martin are sharing their time.

Ms. Sidhu is next, please.