What’s the current dominant way in which food insecurity is addressed in Canada?
Since the 1980s, governments have chosen disinvestment in social policies and welfare and have constantly favored the charity model to fight hunger1. The charity model is best understood as the reliance of food donations from individuals to local organizations like food banks and churches that then distribute the donations to people. In recent years, the rising cost of food along with the rising cost of living has led to less donations. While governments have invested significantly in aid to these groups during the pandemic, many of these funds are now depleted or insufficient to keep the charity model running. There is a need to shift the ways in which food insecurity is currently addressed as decades of research now clearly state and demonstrate that food insecurity will not be solved via charity and food banks2.
What are the limits of the charity approach to addressing food insecurity? Why is it insufficient/problematic?
There are many limits with the charity approach to addressing food insecurity. Food distributed by food banks and other entities that distribute food (for example churches) cannot always meet the needs of the person who is food insecure. For example, food that is distributed may not be culturally or medically appropriate. Another limitation is that food banks are often heavily stigmatized, which Food Banks Canada3 suggests can stem from individualism and ideals of self-sufficiency that permeate our contemporary Western societies. These ideals let us believe that everyone who puts in the efforts can “succeed” in life, and hence be autonomous and self-sufficient. This perspective dismisses that not everyone has access to equal opportunities. For example, research shows that some groups (racialized, Indigenous, immigrants/refugees, women/single mothers) are recurrently more affected by food insecurity than others4. Recent research also reveals that individuals can be employed and yet not have an adequate income for basic needs. These examples demonstrate that food insecurity has much more to do with systemic inequalities and discrimination than with individuals not making the right life “choices”.
Yet the food charity model and the conversations around food insecurity are still filled with stigma and the idea that it is ultimately caused by individual choices and responsibilities. This problematic perspective orients the type of response governments offer to the problem, meaning the reliance on the charity model5. This is why there is a need for a change of discourse around food insecurity and individual responsibility. Individuals cannot simply make “better choices” to get out of food insecurity when the issue has deeply systemic and structural roots.
What do we mean by “we need to address food insecurity with systemic and structural solutions”?
As mentioned above, food insecurity affects some groups more than others which demonstrates that food insecurity has much more to do with systemic inequalities and discrimination processes than with individual responsibility. Those who experience or are much more likely to experience food insecurity are reflections of the social and economic inequalities that exist in Canada.
While “systemic” and “structural” are often used interchangeably, they can be seen as complementary concepts. “Systemic” puts emphasis on the broad systems that are developed in our societies such as economic, political and legal systems. These systems incorporate ways of doing things, ideas – what we can call cultural assumptions – that are naturalized, taken for granted. We tend to forget that the way we develop the systems that constitute our societies are permeated by these ideas. “Structural” puts the emphasis on the policies, practices, and other forms of structures that uphold and shape the systems set into place in our societies. Like these systems, they integrate cultural ideas – or assumptions – that reinforce certain forms of inequity.
When we talk about systemic inequality, we refer to how our systems or the structures that constitute them create or reinforce the discrimination or marginalization processes that affect certain social groups more than others. For example, research analyzing the causes of food insecurity among Indigenous communities identify the long-lasting impacts of colonialism and the development of colonial policies that have and sometimes still restrain access to traditional foods and foodways6. Knowing that Indigenous communities have been and are still affected by colonialism and colonial policies, which impacts the increased occurrence of food insecurity in these communities, it does not make sense to treat food insecurity as something that could be “fixed” via temporary solutions such as what offers the food charity model. Food insecurity is tied to a much more deeper-rooted systemic issue and as such, requires systemic/structural solutions to address it in fairer and more sustainable ways.
When the groups featured in our event advocate for “addressing food insecurity with systemic/structural solutions”, they stress that we need to develop solutions that take into account and directly address the failures of our systems and structures in offering equal chances to everyone.
See what the groups featured in this event are proposing in terms of systemic/structural solutions.
How are climate change and food insecurity linked?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change7 has observed that climate change is already impacting food security. Examples include diminishing water supplies due to climate change which impacts agricultural production, or increased frequency of extreme weather events leading to low crop yields. As agricultural production is negatively impacted through climate change, the already increasing cost of food is expected to rise higher. Snook et al.,8 (2022) suggest that climate change impacts the availability of high-quality food. As the availability of high-quality agriculture and livestock decreases, individuals are forced to cultivate and select lower quality crops which impacts nutrition and health.
Many of these effects are particularly felt in northern Indigenous communities across Canada at the moment. For example, food scarcity and the subsequent rising cost of food will have a large impact on northern Indigenous communities as historically food prices in those areas have been high. A study conducted in 2015 found that, when comparing monthly grocery prices for a family of four in Toronto and Attawapiskat, a First Nations Reserve in Northern Ontario, the average cost in Toronto was $847 and $1,909 in Attawapiskat9. We can imagine that, as food prices rise due to climate change, Indigenous communities will be seeing even higher food prices increase in comparison to places like Toronto.
Climate change also impacts cultural food practices like food choice and food sharing. For example, foods traditionally grown by Indigenous people in the North have been severely affected by the changes to the agricultural calendar, namely the colder winters and irregular melting of snow in spring10. Unpredictable weather not only impacts crops and the availability of edible plants, but also the access of local populations to certain traditional hunting, fishing and harvesting areas. For example, the varying levels of ice in the sea affect the species of animals available for hunting and fishing11.
1 De Souza, R. (2019). Feeding the other: Whiteness, privilege, and neoliberal stigma in food pantries. Massachusetts: MIT Press.; Poppendieck, J. (1998). Sweet charity?: Emergency food and the end of entitlement. Viking; Tarasuk, V., Dachner, N., & Loopstra, R. (2014). Food banks, welfare, and food insecurity in Canada. British Food Journal, 116(9), 1405–1417.; Tarasuk, V., Dachner, N., & Loopstra, R. (2014). Food banks, welfare, and food insecurity in Canada. British Food Journal, 116(9), 1405–1417.
2 Dachner, N., & Tarasuk, V. (2017). Origins and Consequences of and Responses to Food Insecurity in Canada. In M. Koc̦, A. Winson, & J. M. Sumner (Eds.), Critical perspectives in food studies (2nd edition). Oxford University Press; PROOF 2023a; 2023b; Rideout, K. et al. (2007). Bringing home the right to food in Canada: Challenges and possibilities for achieving food security. Public Health Nutrition, 10(6), 566–573; Tarasuk, V., Fafard St-Germain, A.-A., & Loopstra, R. (2020). The Relationship Between Food Banks and Food Insecurity: Insights from Canada. Voluntas (Manchester, England), 31(5), 841–852.
3 Food Banks Canada. (2024). Addressing the stigma that prevents many people from accessing food banks. https://foodbankscanada.ca/addressing-the-stigma-that-prevents-many-people-from-accessing-food-banks/
4 Dhunna, S., & Tarasuk, V. (2021). Black–white racial disparities in household food insecurity from 2005 to 2014, Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 112(5), 888–902; Fournier, F. (2022). La faim justifie des moyens. S’engager à réduire durablement et à prévenir l’insécurité alimentaire des ménages au Québec. Observatoire des inégalités. https://cdn.ca.yapla.com/company/CPYMZxfbWTbVKVvSt3IBEClc/asset/files/La-faim-justifie-des-moyens.pdf; Li, P. (2021). When it comes to tackling food insecurity, tackling anti-Black racism is an important part of the puzzle. PROOF. https://proof.utoronto.ca/2021/anti-black-racism/; Matheson, J. A., & McIntyre, L. (2014). Women respondents report higher household food insecurity than do men in similar Canadian households. Public Health Nutrition, 17(1), 40–48; PROOF. (n.d.). Indigenous Food Insecurity. https://proof.utoronto.ca/resources/indigenous-food-insecurity/.
5 De Souza, 2019; Pollard, C. M., & Booth, S. (2019). Food Insecurity and Hunger in Rich Countries—It Is Time for Action against Inequality. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(10).
6 Ahmed, F. et al. (2023). Indigenous Land-Based Approaches to Well-Being: The Niska (Goose) Harvesting Program in Subarctic Ontario, Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3686.; Co-operative Housing Federation of BC. (2022). Environmental Racism & Our Food System. CHF BC. https://www.chf.bc.ca/sustainability-newsletters/environmental-racism-food-system/; Liboiron, M. (2021). Pollution Is Colonialism. Durham: Duke University Press.
7 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (n.d.). Special Report: Climate Change and Land. https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/
8 Snook, J., Harper, S., Perrin, A., Balasubramaniam, A., Alisauskas, R., Basterfield, M., Gruben, C., Brammer, J., Furgal, C., Henri, D., Ignace, L., Kutz, S., Ljubicic, G., Nanook, K., Ndeloh, D., Peacock, S., Wesche, S. and Park, B. 2022. Understanding the effects of climate change on food security in northern Indigenous communities. Polar Knowledge: Aqhaliat Report, Volume 4, Polar Knowledge Canada, p. 106–126. DOI: 10.35298/pkc.2021.05.eng
9 Puzic, S. (2016). $10 for bag of potatoes: Northern Ont. aboriginals spend more than half of income on food. CTV News. https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/10-for-bag-of-potatoes-northern-ont-aboriginals-spend-more-than-half-of-income-on-food-1.3068160
10 Polar Knowledge Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/polar-knowledge/publications/aqhaliat/volume-4/climate-change.html
11 Polar Knowledge Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/polar-knowledge/publications/aqhaliat/volume-4/climate-change.html