In Alberta, that increase was about 23 per cent. Food Banks Canada collected data from more than 3,000 food-related organizations across Canada to compile the report, and information was released on Tuesday.
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In the short-term, people turn to food banks for diverse reasons, such as layoffs, a sudden illness, a rent increase that eats into a family’s food budget, said Katharine Schmidt, Executive Director of Food Banks Canada. The job losses meant “three-quarters of food banks in this province reported an increase in use”, the report reads.
That’s a 1.3 per cent increase from the previous year, and 26 per cent growth from 2008, before the start of the global financial crisis.
852,137 people received food from a food bank in Canada and 284,046 were children.
While rising unemployment and slumping oil prices are largely to blame for the rising food insecurity in Alberta, Food Banks Canada said a lack of affordable housing, and a “broken” welfare system add to the problem.
“On behalf of Canada Post employees, their friends and family along with our retired employees, we are happy to help the Central Okanagan Community Food Bank”, said Shirley Spencor of Canada Post.
Weve been hearing from many of our food banks for at least a year that numbers had been creeping up.
By the end of 2015, it’s expected that service users would have made more than 14 million visits to food banks.
FBC conducted research in 4,000 food programs in every province and territory for the latest numbers.
Number of Calgarians assisted by the food bank in the 2015 fiscal year that ended in September, an increase of 8,802 people in a year.
She clarified that by saying that many food banks did not report an increase for the HungerCount but have experienced increases since then.
Percentage of Albertans accessing a food bank who report they are working, more than double the national average of 11.6 per cent.
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Non-profit food banks, staffed mainly by volunteers, are seeking donations to meet heavy demand, including after the holiday season and into the new year, she said.
