Need for food banks greater in Mississauga than anywhere else in Canada, agency says

Mississauga has seen a greater increase in demand for food banks than anywhere else in Canada in the past year, the head of the city’s largest food bank organization says.

Describing the ongoing situation in Canada’s seventh-largest city as a “food security crisis,” Food Banks Mississauga CEO Meghan Nicholls recently told Mississauga city councillors the numbers — on various related fronts — are staggering.

She said from June 2023 through May of this year, the charitable organization “provided food support to more than 56,000 people (56,267), almost 60 per cent more than the previous year.”

By comparison, Nicholls noted, the average increase among Ontario municipalities in the same time period was 22 per cent.

“This now means one in 13 residents in Mississauga are using a food bank, which is up from one in 20 (the previous year) and one in 37 in 2020,” continued Nicholls, who appeared at the city’s Sept. 18 general committee meeting to provide an update on the situation and rally additional support for her agency’s annual Thanksgiving Drive.

“In fact, Mississauga and our network of food banks have seen the highest year-over-year increase of any food bank in Canada in the last 12 months.

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“… this year brought new challenges that our community has never faced before.”

Food Banks Mississauga, which heads up a network of more than 60 community agencies, has set a goal of $800,000 for its 2024 Thanksgiving Drive. The drive kicked off in early September and concludes Oct. 21. Last year’s fall drive raised $783,963, significantly short of its $1 million goal.

Food Banks Mississauga CEO Meghan Nicholls delivered an update to city councillors on the fast-growing need for food bank services in Mississauga.

The $800,000 fall campaign objective is part of a larger $9 million fundraising goal for the entire year, Nicholls said.

That money — and significantly more — is badly needed to just not fall behind in efforts to keep enough food on the table for many Mississauga families who need the help, she added.

And the situation is also worsening across Ontario and Canada.

Nicholls pointed to provincial numbers released in September that show more than one million Ontario residents have used a food bank in the past year — “it was 500,000 people in Ontario just four years ago,” she noted.

But in Mississauga, the head of the city’s largest food bank agency said, there’s something different taking place that speaks to an even greater and more urgent need than is being experienced in other places.

“Something unique happening in Mississauga”

Again, she drew attention to the latest data that shows the average increase in food bank usage in the past year across Ontario was 22 per cent while that number is nearly 60 per cent in Mississauga.

“There’s something unique happening in Mississauga, in Peel in this last year that is really putting pressure on the food banks,” Nicholls said in her address to councillors.

She said 32 per cent of people who’ve used the food bank in the last year in Mississauga have only been in Canada for less than 12 months.

“So, our sense is that … if you land at Pearson Airport (in Mississauga) and you don’t have a lot of resources, you’re still going to be in Mississauga. And so, there are a lot of people who have arrived and are not being provided with those immigration supports. I think that’s a part of what we’re seeing. I think the housing (costs) being very high in Mississauga, the $2,700 a month (average rent) for an apartment, (is also a factor). It is higher than the national average and I think that has contributed (to the situation in Mississauga). Something unique is happening here that is really challenging.”

21,000 people used food bank for the first time

Nicholls also referenced a number of other statistics and trends:

• minimum wage in Mississauga is $16.55 and the average rent is nearly $2,700 per month. On average, monthly cost for utilities is $122 per person, she added
• people who used to give money and food donations to the food bank “are now coming in to ask for support” themselves
• in the past year, Food Banks Mississauga has distributed food for nine million meals, 55 per cent more than the previous year
• some 21,000 people needed a food bank for the first time last year, “way more than the previous year,” Nicholls said
• 48 per cent of food bank users have told food bank officials they’ve skipped meals, reduced portions or reduced the quality of food they buy just to make ends meet
• Statistics Canada and Food Banks Canada estimate one in four Canadian residents will need the help of a community agency before the end of the year. That equates to 175,000 Mississauga residents

The bottom line, Nicholls said, is that many Mississauga families “have incredibly difficult decisions” to make each month.

“Do they spend their money on rent, making sure they still have a roof over their head or do they make sure their kids are fed?” she said, noting one reason she describes the situation as a crisis is because of how kids are being impacted.

“They’re starting life without the nutrients they need, the energy they need to develop, learn and grow and we can’t underestimate the impact of that many kids in our city growing up undernourished.”