Photo credit; CBC
A new report says more than one million Ontario residents needed a food bank in the past year.
CBC News reports that Neil Hetherrington, the CEO of Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, says, “We see it here every single day at the food bank, at the Daily Bread Food Bank. And it’s been a real tough slog being able to make sure that we feed the need now.”
Hetherington was responding to the 2025 Hunger report by Feed Ontario, an advocacy organization, that found Ontario residents made 8.7 million visits to food banks from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 – a 13 per cent increase in one year.
That year marked the ninth consecutive year of growth in food bank use in the province and a record high level of demand, according to the report.
The report found that of those who used food banks in the past year:
X One in three people were first time visitors
X One in three were children under eighteen
X One in three were people with disabilities
X One in four had a job but could not earn enough to make ends meet
X Three in four were tenants
X Twice as many were seniors, compared to five years ago, as their fixed incomes have not kept up with the rising cost of living.
The report says, “escalating” food bank use is a sign that homelessness, strain on the health care system and instability within communities are set to frise if action is not taken to reduce poverty.
While the food bank provides three days worth of food to a client every week, Hetherington said the food bank estimates more than one in 10 Torontonians now rely on food banks, compared to one in 20 three years ago.
