Saskatchewan is one of the provinces that received an overall D- grade in the recently released Food Banks Canada 2024 Poverty Report Card.
“People in Saskatchewan responded to this year’s national survey with a clear message – they’re struggling to keep up with the cost of living and aren’t getting the support they need from their government,” the report card read. “Without action soon, Saskatchewan risks being the second province to receive an overall failing grade in the next year’s Poverty Report Cards.”
According to the report card’s poverty overview, Saskatchewan’s poverty rate of 11.1 per cent was slightly higher than that of Canada as a whole of 9.9 per cent.
“Between December 2022 and December 2023, the overall price of goods and services in Saskatchewan increased by 2.7 per cent,” the report card stated. “In that time, the price of food in the province rose by 4.8 per cent. While this food inflation rate is less than that of Canada as a whole, 35 per cent of people in the province worry about feeding themselves or their family compared to 29 per cent nationally.”
The CEO of the Regina Food Bank said there is a lot of opportunity for improvement.
“We actually have to put some of those improvements in actions around cost of living, around access to housing, around support for folks who are an income assistance,” John Bailey said. “Those are all really actionable things. So that’s the plus side. The downside is that it’s not happening and our grade of a D minus reflects that.”
Bailey said to ensure the basic need of food is met, they are dependent on policy decisions at all levels of government to make sure they continue to support those in the community who are most vulnerable.
Among the findings in this year’s poverty report card is an “F” grade for food insecurity rate and legislative progress in Saskatchewan. In the report card’s sample policy recommendations, it states the province needs to update and modernize the 2016 Poverty Reduction Strategy and improve and index Saskatchewan’s support programs.