“Minimum wage just won’t cut it!” Ontario Food Banks witnessing a rise in visits

BY JONELL PANTLITZ
TORONTO CARIBBEAN NEWS INTERN

Does your monthly salary sustain your family? Do you struggle to make ends meet? If not, count yourself lucky!

Ok, so minimum wage. It’s not a surprise that it barely provides us with enough money to pay our rent or mortgage each month, and after all expenses are paid what’s next? There is little to no money left over for our basic necessities. It can all be very overwhelming; it’s like a snowstorm, you struggle to see your way and when you finally do it’s not always 20/20 vision.

According to the Ontario Food Bank, employed individuals are accessing food banks 27% more. Many may ask or say why do they need assistance they have paying jobs? A common misconception is that if you have a job it means you’re financially stable. I was telling a friend about what I read about this issue and his reaction was “Dem greedy and dem like free food.” I don’t necessarily blame him for his response because you would think someone with a job would not need any assistance with food.

But the facts are the average food bank client spends 70% of their income on housing, which puts them at high risk of homelessness. Research proves, after paying for housing and utilities, 45% of food bank clients only have $100 leftover, leaving next to nothing for essentials like: food, transportation and medicine. This is basically living below the poverty line.

Honestly, if you are not in this situation, can you imagine not having enough money to support yourself? If not, this is the case for many Ontarians, struggling each day to make ends meet.

Many people may be shocked but 1 in 7 Canadians are in poverty and 10.4% of the population has to live off of minimum wage. It is the reason why Ontario’s food banks were visited over 3,059,000 times throughout the year, an increase of 4.2% over the previous year.

Ontario Food Bank also reported that 28% of unemployed Ontarians are receiving employment insurance, which provides only 55% of an individual’s former pay. Food banks offer fresh, healthy food and a diverse range of programs, depending on the community. In Ontario, these programs include: accredited training programs, resume writing workshops and job fairs, rental and housing support, tax clinics and assistance with government forms, meal deliveries and mobile services for those that cannot access the food bank, community cafes, and workshops. Still, is this enough?

Over 70% of those accessing food banks say that social assistance or government benefits like employment insurance is their primary source of income. The income received from various programs isn’t matching up to what’s needed for basic necessities.

The previous Liberal government increased the minimum wage to $14 an hour last year, with plans to boost it to $15. But the Progressive Conservative government demolished those plans after gaining office last June and froze minimum wage until at least October 2020.

Valarie Tarasuk, professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, said “Feed Ontario’s findings paint only a partial picture of life for the working poor in Ontario.  “For every person that uses a food bank, we would say that there are four or five others in the community that are also struggling to put food on the table,” Tarasuk said. “Many of those are people in the workforce.”

Feed Ontario called on the provincial government to significantly reform its social assistance programs by raising rates and implementing a portable housing benefit. “Our government is working hard to ensure people across Ontario are able to put food on the table and provide for their families,” Wood said. “That is why we are focused on improving Ontario’s social assistance and employment programs, and providing simpler, more streamlined services.”