At Feed Ontario, we have been sounding the alarm on skyrocketing food bank use spurred by our failing social safety net and the affordability crisis for years. Now, our province has allowed almost 3 million people, including 700,000 children, to become food insecure, and this has a human cost.
Over 1 million people in our province have needed to turn to a food bank for support, and for each of them food insecurity and economic adversity are not abstract ideas. We launched our postcard campaign to give food bank visitors the opportunity to tell their local MPPs their stories. We asked them to write about how the struggle to afford basic necessities is affecting their daily lives, and the responses provided a window into the emotional hardship that can deeply affect people experiencing food insecurity.
Many of the food bank visitors who filled out a postcard wrote about how the precarity they are facing is causing stresses that are affecting their overall wellbeing, and their responses highlighted their resilience in extremely challenging circumstances.
One food bank visitor wrote that not being able to make ends meet, “has caused a very extreme amount of stress, depression. We should not have to worry about a roof over our family’s heads, or food on the table. Kids, adults, and older adults should not have to stress and pick or choose food over shelter.”
This was echoed by other respondents, including one who shared that being “in a constant state of choice around basic necessities is unimaginably stressful.”
Some said that coping with these stressors made everyday life difficult, and some shared that they worried about the effect it was having on their children: “I worry about the lights getting shut off, internet cut off, missing another car insurance payment, if and where our next meal and school lunches and snacks will come from. I worry about the negative impact all this will have on my son. I worry about being a bad mom because I’m so worried about food and bills. Something has to give!”
When reading the postcards, these themes emerged again and again. The financial challenges that more and more people in Ontario are facing is leading to real emotional impacts, and the economic stresses of daily life can affect their health.
The lived experiences that food bank visitors shared highlight that our mental and physical health is in part shaped by our social and economic conditions, a concept called the social determinants of health, and food insecurity is one of these factors. Researchers have also found specific connections between food insecurity and mental health concerns.
According to PROOF, a research program out of the University of Toronto, there is a strong relationship between food insecurity and adverse mental health outcomes. Their studies show that adults facing food insecurity are more likely to experience depressive thoughts than their food-secure counterparts. PROOF also found that children in food insecure households are more likely to struggle with challenges like inattention and hyperactivity and are at greater risk for mental health concerns later in life.
In Ontario, food insecurity and the impacts on mental health it is connected to are not happening in a vacuum. The cost of living that continues to spiral out of control is fueling a surge of people needing to turn to a food bank for help. Our Province needs to make policy changes to support Ontarians, like investing in affordable housing, creating quality jobs that pay a living wage, and making improvements to our social assistance programs, so that everyone can afford a good quality of life.
No one should have to bear the emotional toll that wondering where their next meal will come from takes. Addressing the root causes of poverty will also work to address the stressors that can lead to mental health concerns those facing food insecurity may be impacted by. As the number of people facing food insecurity continues to grow, it is essential that our Province works to address food insecurity and build an Ontario where everyone can thrive.
To learn more about our postcard campaign, and to sign our petition calling on MPPs to take bold action on poverty, click here.
