According to a hunger count released by Food Banks Canada yesterday, the number of food bank users across Canada remains at an all time high.
Saskatchewan saw a slight percentage decrease compared to 2011, but the concern is almost all provinces are still struggling to regain the numbers that were seen before the 2008 recession.
“We’ve seen some steady decrease in food bank usage before that and then there was a sharp spike after the recession and now we’re having a very difficult time gaining that ground back,” said Laurie O’Connor, executive director of the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre
O’Connor added people using the food bank aren’t the ones you would typically think.
“We know that people who use the food bank are seniors living on a very limited income, people who are working two minimum wage jobs – two members of the family working – who don’t make enough to make ends meet, and university students.”
Saskatchewan is one of two provinces in the country without a poverty reduction plan in place.
“When I look at the provinces that have a strategy and I look at the work that we done and the numbers that are going in the right direction for Saskatchewan, I know we’ve got a better record,” said June Draude, Saskatchewan’s minister of Social Services.
At the same time, the minster concedes if the numbers don’t continue on the upswing, a plan for a strategy may be revisited.
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