If forced to choose between housing, tuition and meals, which would you choose?
That, unfortunately, is the impossible choice faced by an increasing number of students in universities across Canada today. It echoes a growing food insecurity and poverty problem across our nation and many others around the globe.
According to the latest data from the Statistics Canada Canadian Income Survey, the poverty rate in 2022 was 9.9 per cent, with about 3.8 million people in Canada living in poverty. That's up 3.5 percentage points from 2020 and represents 1.4 million more people living in poverty in 2022 compared to 2020 (Source: Canadian Income Survey, 2022). The same survey found that nearly 1 in 4 people in Canada now live in food-insecure households. Food Banks Canada reports that 18 per cent of people relying on food banks are employed, an all-time high (Source: Food Banks Canada).
The underlying causes of food insecurity in Canada are complex and multifaceted: rising housing costs, stagnant wages, and the increasing cost of living have created a challenging environment for many households. The disparities are particularly pronounced among marginalized communities, single-parent families and individuals with disabilities.
Scott MacAfee (BBA'94) is chair of the National Advisory Council on Poverty and is based in Fredericton. He's spent over 25 years working on poverty reduction, first with the Government of New Brunswick through the Department of Social Development and the Economic and Social Inclusion Corporation, and for the last six years with the federal government's National Advisory Council on Poverty. He's concerned about the rapid rise in poverty over the past few years. "Canadians are experiencing increased living costs and inflation, but wages and social supports have not kept up."
He also notes that there are many people and families in Canada hovering right around the poverty line, and that becomes evident when we see the rapid rise in people using food banks. "Food insecurity is the canary in the coal mine for poverty," he explains. "More people than ever use food banks today because food is a flexible expense. Many people are going without meals or turning to food banks for meals, because they are choosing housing and heat first. It tells us that a tremendous number of people are in a precarious situation."
Doug Pawson (MPhil'09) agrees. As executive director of End Homelessness St. John's, he supports and aligns efforts across all levels of government with over a dozen community organizations, while serving those who are, or who may be at risk of, homelessness. He confirms that food insecurity is a sign we need to recognize early.
"We know the data on usage of emergency supports, so now we need to use that to develop a system of care. How can we get people into a system of care before a crisis hits them? Data shows that if we intervene, we see reductions in homelessness. But this requires systems change, so we shift to long-term prevention instead of continuously building capacity for emergency supports. We need to re-imagine our social safety net and prioritize new ways of supporting individuals, families and seniors. We need a living wage. We need paid sick days. We need a better student loan and bursary system. We need to reform our social assistance programs. Inaction when it comes to poverty is costlier – we find higher rates of poor health outcomes, homelessness and incarceration."
This echoes Scott's recommendations, affirming that poverty is about systemic inequity and has little to do with individuals. "It's not about people doing something wrong. Poverty is often generational, hard to escape, or caused by systemic issues at some level. Women are the largest number of people in Canada living in poverty, along with those living with a disability, minorities and rural residents." He says that the National Advisory Council on Poverty is working with governments and communities to try to rethink our policies, systems and supports. "These are our systems, so if there's enough public effort – coupled with political courage – we can change them. We need higher wages, more consistently affordable healthy food, better social supports and fewer barriers to support."
Lesley Frank (PhD'13) knows first-hand that these systemic solutions are critical. Before obtaining a PhD in sociology from UNB and then being named Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Social Justice at Acadia University, she worked for years on the front lines of community outreach programs in the Annapolis Valley. She's also been pivotal in producing the annual report card on child and family poverty in Nova Scotia for the last 25 years.
She notes that analyzing food insecurity's causes and social impacts is crucial to influencing decision-makers regarding policy. "We ground our work and findings in the everyday realities of human experiences to identify upstream policy drivers. Then we are relentless in putting that data in front of people who can improve our systems and support policies that will strengthen the well-being of all Canadians."
"Poor overall health, poor mental health, high stress and poor academic performance were significantly higher for food-insecure students."
Lesley has studied the effects of food insecurity on university students in Canada and authored and co-authored papers published in the Journal of Higher Education and Canadian Food Studies Journal. It was found that poor overall health, poor mental health, high stress and poor academic performance were significantly higher for food-insecure students. The findings point to necessary policy changes related to student funding programs and suggest that relying on campus food banks to solve the issue of food insecurity among students is a helpful stop-gap, but inadequate.
"It's not ok for students to be hungry. They are away from home and family support, many are trying to transition to adulthood, learning how to do life. They're struggling financially, and it's affecting those living off-campus, as well as international or racialized students at even greater proportions. And data shows that food insecurity gets higher with every year of study, putting up a barrier to graduating. That's a big problem because we know that education is a core social determinant of health, and higher educational attainment is associated with numerous health and social advantages for individuals."
The solution to food insecurity
The experts tell us that efforts to combat food insecurity involve multifaceted strategies. For her part, Lesley believes that research and data have an impact. "Small improvements are happening. For instance, starting in 2025, Nova Scotia's income assistance program will be indexed to inflation, meaning payments increase annually based on the consumer price index. That's an important step that finally happened because of our persistent reporting and policy recommendations. With evidence, we can all collectively hold governments to account to demand evidence-based policy making."
"Good social policy is good economic policy. If we start talking about investing in good social, housing, education policy, we're going to have better economic outcomes." Doug Pawson
Doug has been starting to see some provincial success in Newfoundland and Labrador through persistent efforts to push for system change and integration. "Nothing done in isolation will end poverty and food insecurity. We all have to work together at the community level and all levels of government. Good social policy is good economic policy. If we start talking about investing in good social, housing, education policy, we're going to have better economic outcomes. Investments in people and communities pay off."
Scott wholeheartedly agrees. "We need to position policy to enable care for our fellow humans and start improving systems so they work for everyone. Right now, we put up a lot of barriers to many in our communities. Sometimes we get caught up in making our systems stronger, but we take the human element of out of it. But if we put caring for one another as a priority, we can design our systems to work for humans. Care is at the core of poverty reduction – and we can take better care of each other by sharing. Taxes, for example, are an investment in each other. We all kick in to help one another, and it leads to safe and healthy communities. I see caring at the community level all the time, so it gives me hope. We just need to continue to press for it at a policy and system level."
Caring on UNB campuses
On the UNB campuses in New Brunswick, students are certainly showing care for one another. In 2023, the Student Union on the Fredericton campus created an on-campus food bank in the, working carefully to ensure food safety and availability, as well as confidentiality. As the need grew, they reached out to Greener Village as a partner to more efficiently keep food on the shelves. On the Saint John campus, the Students' Representative Council opened a Campus Food Pantry in 2023, in addition to a Tuesday morning breakfast program. Both programs are stocked with fresh, healthy food, and are supported by a mix of government grants, SRC funding and alumni donations.
The need at UNB is expected to continue to rise: a 2023 survey found that 47 per cent of UNB students regularly eat less than they need due to financial hardship, and Canada's food costs are projected to rise by another 3 to 5 per cent in 2025, following a staggering 10.4 per cent increase in 2023 (Source: Dalhousie University, dal.ca/sites/agri-food/research/canada-s-food-price-report-2025)
The model of care, collaboration and data that Scott, Doug and Lesley advocate for will be crucial if the university, faculty, staff, students and alumni are to work together to find solutions and bridge gaps.
"UNB is a great example of what a diverse, caring community can be," Scott affirms. "It offers a common identity, made up of, and celebrating individual differences. When we come together with compassion, we can help build a stronger, more food-secure community, with positive long-term results."
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