Photo credit: Irish Times
Food insecurity has now been declared an emergency in Mississauga, Ontario.
CP24 reports that the city council passed a motion recognizing that a considerable number of its residents lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food, on Wednesday.
The city of Mississauga said in a news release that, “This formal declaration is a monumental step in recognizing tat food insecurity has gone beyond crisis levels and is not a temporary issue. Food insecurity has been affecting too many residents for far too long.”
The motion also calls for increasing the municipality’s Food Security Emergency Response Rund along with collaboration from other levels of government when it comes food security advocacy and awareness campaigns that highlight the need for more funding for essential supports for residents.
It also aims to have the provincial and federal governments declare food insecurity as an emergency, improve Ontario’s social assistance programs, garner investment in affordable, supportive, and public housing, help build a stronger workforce through better labour laws that benefit workers and enhance worker-support program, and lastly support the Groceries and Essential Benefit, which would help struggling households to immediately afford food and shelter.
The city of 716,000 people has the fastest-growing rate food bank usage in Ontario, according to a recent report by Food Banks Mississauga. the report also found that the organization and its network of 60-plus agencies served over 56,000 clients between June 2023 and May 2024.
The demand is expected to rise according to Statistics Canada and Food Banks Canada, which are estimating that a quarter of all Canadian residents will need the help of a community program.
The municipality went on to say that while food banks “continue to fill a critical gap, this is a broader issue that they – and we – can’t solve alone, and it’s not just a Mississauga problem.”
