Lauren Boothby - Edmonton Journal
Yesterday
Handing out free food won’t solve poverty or food insecurity and the city needs to use its influence to fix the root causes, according to Edmonton’s Food Bank.
A volunteer packs hampers at the Edmonton's Food Bank. The annual drive at the Heritage Festival brought in 22,761 kilograms of food but had a goal of 50,000 kilograms.
Demand for its hamper program hit record heights in June — nearly double the requests from in 2020 — showing the need for the service, the charity said. But in a letter sent to councillors ahead of a committee meeting discussion on food insecurity, the food bank said governments and society need to address the reasons why people are being forced into poverty in the first place.
“As with the case with most food banks, Edmonton’s Food Bank challenges the notion that gleaned food on its own will reduce poverty,” the letter, a portion of which was shared with Postmedia, states. “There is a moral dimension to hunger and we must all be committed to enhancing the health and well-being of others. After all, salvaged food is not a realistic substitute for policies that help vulnerable Canadians enter the workforce, or access adequate income support, and affordable housing that enables low-income people to live with dignity.”
Tamisan Bencz-Knight, a spokesperson for Edmonton’s Food Bank, told Postmedia more energy needs to be put toward poverty reduction in general because food insecurity is just one symptom. She said helping people with housing, addictions, childcare, transportation, and mental health are key.
“Feeding people is good, we need to keep doing that, but we’re not moving that bar,” she said. “Giving away food is easy when you compare it with poverty … Those are the hard conversations we have to have as a society, as a city, and one idea will not fix it all.”
Apart from talk on inflationary pressures, councillors didn’t discuss poverty in relation to food security more generally during the meeting. However, some members asked city administration if advocacy on food security is being considered now. No specifics on planned actions were given.
In June, 30,770 people received a hamper from the food bank, the highest of any June in the charity’s history. By comparison, 17,962 people got a hamper in 2020, and just 12,622 in 2012. Food hampers helped 34,867 people last month , the highest ever.
Shortfall in Alberta supports
Multiple gaps in social services, many under provincial jurisdiction, are identified in the food bank’s letter — “inadequate welfare benefits, lack of disability supports, family breakdown and domestic violence, chronic unemployment, lack of subsidized daycare and rent, unreasonable and unsafe housing, addictions, and much much more.”
Eric Engler, press secretary for mental health and addictions associate minister Mike Ellis, wrote in an email that the Alberta government is continuing to support the most vulnerable, including with $6 million to food banks and community groups offering food supplies.
“We are doing everything we can to help families get the support they need to pay rent, buy food, find and keep appropriate housing and care for their loved ones,” he stated. “Overall, Alberta’s government has committed more than any other province for affordability with more than $2 billion dollars in relief that includes fuel tax relief, electricity rebate, affordable childcare, and a natural gas rebate that will begin this fall.”
Engler said AISH payments are the highest in Canada and the province supports people with mental health issues and pointed to Alberta’s rent supplement program.
On addictions, he pointed to the addition of 8,000 new treatment spaces , a recovery facility with 100 beds outside Edmonton, services to reduce harm like the Digital Overdose Response System (DORS) app, and expansion of opioid agonist therapy and covering the costs of the injectable opioid treatment drug Sublocade.
Advocates have called for the province to make harm-reduction services more accessible. In May, 118 drug poisoning deaths were reported in Alberta , well above pre-pandemic levels.
While it doesn’t offer specific policy changes, Edmonton’s Food Bank urged city council to review recommendations by Food Banks of Canada in its recent Hunger Count report . Suggestions (some issues are federal) included new supports for renters with low incomes, making affordable housing available quicker, expanding support for low-wage and underemployed workers, minimum income pilot programs, and more support for low-income single adults.
Results of a survey in Edmonton’s Food Bank’s 2021 report found most users needed between $200 and $600 more a month to reduce reliance on its services. Its survey found many users aren’t aware of or weren’t using some City of Edmonton programs like the free leisure pass (around 75 per cent) and the low-income bus pass (around 70 per cent).
lboothby@postmedia.com
@laurby
A volunteer packs hampers at the Edmonton's Food Bank. The annual drive at the Heritage Festival brought in 22,761 kilograms of food but had a goal of 50,000 kilograms.
Demand for its hamper program hit record heights in June — nearly double the requests from in 2020 — showing the need for the service, the charity said. But in a letter sent to councillors ahead of a committee meeting discussion on food insecurity, the food bank said governments and society need to address the reasons why people are being forced into poverty in the first place.
“As with the case with most food banks, Edmonton’s Food Bank challenges the notion that gleaned food on its own will reduce poverty,” the letter, a portion of which was shared with Postmedia, states. “There is a moral dimension to hunger and we must all be committed to enhancing the health and well-being of others. After all, salvaged food is not a realistic substitute for policies that help vulnerable Canadians enter the workforce, or access adequate income support, and affordable housing that enables low-income people to live with dignity.”
Tamisan Bencz-Knight, a spokesperson for Edmonton’s Food Bank, told Postmedia more energy needs to be put toward poverty reduction in general because food insecurity is just one symptom. She said helping people with housing, addictions, childcare, transportation, and mental health are key.
“Feeding people is good, we need to keep doing that, but we’re not moving that bar,” she said. “Giving away food is easy when you compare it with poverty … Those are the hard conversations we have to have as a society, as a city, and one idea will not fix it all.”
Apart from talk on inflationary pressures, councillors didn’t discuss poverty in relation to food security more generally during the meeting. However, some members asked city administration if advocacy on food security is being considered now. No specifics on planned actions were given.
In June, 30,770 people received a hamper from the food bank, the highest of any June in the charity’s history. By comparison, 17,962 people got a hamper in 2020, and just 12,622 in 2012. Food hampers helped 34,867 people last month , the highest ever.
Shortfall in Alberta supports
Multiple gaps in social services, many under provincial jurisdiction, are identified in the food bank’s letter — “inadequate welfare benefits, lack of disability supports, family breakdown and domestic violence, chronic unemployment, lack of subsidized daycare and rent, unreasonable and unsafe housing, addictions, and much much more.”
Eric Engler, press secretary for mental health and addictions associate minister Mike Ellis, wrote in an email that the Alberta government is continuing to support the most vulnerable, including with $6 million to food banks and community groups offering food supplies.
“We are doing everything we can to help families get the support they need to pay rent, buy food, find and keep appropriate housing and care for their loved ones,” he stated. “Overall, Alberta’s government has committed more than any other province for affordability with more than $2 billion dollars in relief that includes fuel tax relief, electricity rebate, affordable childcare, and a natural gas rebate that will begin this fall.”
Engler said AISH payments are the highest in Canada and the province supports people with mental health issues and pointed to Alberta’s rent supplement program.
On addictions, he pointed to the addition of 8,000 new treatment spaces , a recovery facility with 100 beds outside Edmonton, services to reduce harm like the Digital Overdose Response System (DORS) app, and expansion of opioid agonist therapy and covering the costs of the injectable opioid treatment drug Sublocade.
Advocates have called for the province to make harm-reduction services more accessible. In May, 118 drug poisoning deaths were reported in Alberta , well above pre-pandemic levels.
While it doesn’t offer specific policy changes, Edmonton’s Food Bank urged city council to review recommendations by Food Banks of Canada in its recent Hunger Count report . Suggestions (some issues are federal) included new supports for renters with low incomes, making affordable housing available quicker, expanding support for low-wage and underemployed workers, minimum income pilot programs, and more support for low-income single adults.
Results of a survey in Edmonton’s Food Bank’s 2021 report found most users needed between $200 and $600 more a month to reduce reliance on its services. Its survey found many users aren’t aware of or weren’t using some City of Edmonton programs like the free leisure pass (around 75 per cent) and the low-income bus pass (around 70 per cent).
lboothby@postmedia.com
@laurby
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