LadiesCorner
FOOD INSECURITY Fighting
M
ore than 1 in 10 households in Alberta experience household food insecurity (a lack of money to buy enough healthy food). Before the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, nearly 4.5 million Canadians were already experiencing food insecurity. The number is rising everyday with shrinking income pots and greater demand. Within Edmonton, 13.8% of residents were food insecure in 2017-2018. In 2019, 63,323 people received a hamper from Edmonton’s Food Bank or one of its affiliates. Indigenous and racialized people
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Tackling the ballooning food insecurity in our region – Mary Thomas
are also disproportionately impacted by food insecurity. Black households are 3.5 times more likely to be food insecure than white households, and almost half of all First Nations families are food insecure. Of those who access food banks to meet their needs, the 2019 Hunger Count reported that 34% were children, 48% were single adult households, 18% were single parent households, and 57.4% were on social assistance or disability-related supports. Food security measures need to be responsive to needs of ethnic minorities as they are more likely to experience social isolation due to food insecurity. One of my Black friends in the community said to me, “Your circumstances can suddenly change when you are unable to find work and doors LadiesCorner.ca – Summer 2021
close on you for any kind of support. I found myself desperate and short of food for a season in my life. I had to depend on family to send me money which was almost never enough to pay my rent and feed my children. I remember skipping meals to save money. Using the car became a luxury I couldn’t afford.” “The predicament of undocumented workers rings clear: they have no access to food support nor to the vaccines as they do not have healthcare coverage. My battle with food insecurity is just a glimpse the entire gamut of issues faced when you are let down by circumstances beyond your control. Food insecurity leads to problems like trafficking. You are offered meaningless work for little or no pay. Some are offered the opportunity to sell their bodies in exchange for mon-
