Last week, Food Banks Canada released their 2018 report, which found Saskatchewan has the highest proportion of children relying on food banks in the country. According to the report, 43.5 per cent of individuals served by food banks in Saskatchewan were children, higher than the Canadian average of 35.2 per cent. Although a recent change in how food bank usage is measured makes quantifying recent shifts in usage difficult, previous reports show that food bank use in Saskatchewan grew 76.9 per cent between 2008 and 2016. Last week, the Estevan Food Bank reported a 40 per cent increase in usage over a year ago.
“No child should be going to school or to bed hungry, but that’s the reality facing far too many Saskatchewan families,” said NDP Leader Ryan Meili. “The poverty underlying food bank usage hurts children and costs our provincial economy billions each year in increased health, social services and justice costs.