EXPERT ADVISORY: April 3 2024 – R0044

The federal government is on the right track with its new National School Food Program that will provide 400,000 meals to children, but more needs to be done to increase food security in Niagara and beyond, say two Brock University political scientists.

“This marks a critical milestone in Canada, the only G7 country without such a program,” Professor of Political Science Charles Conteh says in response to the new program announced Monday, April 1.

“Supporting schools and community groups struggling to provide nutritious meals to children, some of society’s most vulnerable, is a small but vital part of the solution to the crisis of food insecurity,” says Conteh, Director of Brock’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO).

Assistant Professor of Political Science Joanne Heritz says the new program “will assist a growing number of families who are struggling to regularly provide their children with nutritious food.”

“While this policy is a step in the right direction, it will not solve the challenges an increasing number of people face at home in meeting the nutritional needs of their children due to inadequate wages that fail to pay for increasing food and housing costs,” she says.

Heritz is the author of a policy brief the NCO released on Tuesday, April 2 titled “Sustaining Food Security in Niagara.”

The brief documents food insecurity at the local, provincial and national levels and provides a detailed examination of food bank reliance in Niagara. It analyzes various responses to food insecurity and concludes with recommendations for all levels of government.

“As charitable organizations, food banks were designed to provide temporary assistance to those in need,” says Heritz. “Today, they are responding to systemic inadequacies by supporting an alarming number of vulnerable residents with food security.”

But this trend shows no signs of slowing down because the main drivers of food insecurity — unaffordable housing, precarious employment and inadequate social assistance — aren’t being addressed, she says.

Her research shows food bank usage has risen in all of Niagara’s 12 municipalities. The largest increase was seen in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where use grew 118 per cent from 2021 to 2023, followed by St. Catharines and Thorold with an 82 per cent increase from 2022 to 2023 and Niagara Falls with a 65 per cent increase from 2022 to 2023.

Additionally, more than 40 per cent of those relying on Feed Niagara-based food banks are children, says the brief.

The research also notes a “dramatic” rise in the number of employed people accessing Niagara’s food banks for the first time, with some working three or four jobs, along with those on fixed incomes.

Heritz lists several policy recommendations for federal, provincial and local governments that would help boost food security efforts in Niagara, including:

• Providing a basic income for low-income households.
• Raising minimum wage, disability benefits and social assistance rates to align with a living wage. As an example, the brief says full-time workers in Niagara need to earn $20.35 an hour, from the current minimum wage of $16.55 an hour, “to meet their basic needs in 2024.”
• Increasing the supply of community housing in response to the growing number of people on waitlists.
• All municipalities supporting Niagara Region in securing federal and provincial funding for affordable housing.

Brock University Assistant Professor of Political Science Joanne Heritz and Professor of Political Science Charles Conteh are available for media interviews on the topic.

For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

* Maryanne St. Denis, Manager, Content and Communications, Brock University mstdenis@brocku.ca or 905-246-0256

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