Canada seems to be an economically prosperous country but a largely hidden crisis needs to be reevaluated - and that crisis is poverty, according to Elaine Power, an associate professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.
"It seems that food banks have thrown up this smoke screen that leads the rest of us to believe that the problem is being taken care of," she stated in an interview with CTV.
"I think we've let the government off the hook, we're assuming that food banks are looking after the problem, in the mean time we have a massive problem in hunger," said Power.
"The stats show that for every one person who uses the food bank, there are another three people who never even get to the food bank," she added, saying food banks only scratch the surface of helping those in need.
Bill Hall, executive director of the Battlefords food bank, agrees with the university professor that poverty is not being solved and offered a local perspective on the issue.
"We've got the statistics that show that approximately 25 per cent of the people who come through our doors only come once per year, which means we're actually helping out in the short term. About 65 per cent of our clients come six or less times per year," said Hall, adding the government needs to focus on solutions like housing authority at a national level.
Food Banks Canada's mission is to reduce hunger in Canada by enabling an effective food bank community that addresses the short term need for food and longer-term solutions. In other words, its intention is to alleviate hunger and is meant to be temporary.
Katharine Schmidt, the organization's executive director, said she thinks it's unacceptable that so many people rely on the program.
While Food Banks Canada indicates that anyone is at risk of food insecurity, certain groups are more vulnerable than others.
Despite the fact that the federal government committed to end child poverty by the year 2000, the food bank reports that this year 37.8 per cent of food bank clients were children.
The working poor make up a large portion of food bank clients, due to loss of low paying jobs during the recession.
Also among the most vulnerable are persons with disabilities and senior citizens.
Recipients of social assistance make up 50.5 per cent of food bank clients, clearly suggesting rates in Canada are not sufficient to feed low-income Canadians.
Food banks currently rely on the generosity of hardworking volunteers, corporations and donations from Canadians.
"The problem is too big for food banks to solve," said Power, "Its unfair for us to ask them to do that job."
