Abstract
Over the past two decades, the demand for charitable food assistance has steadily grown, and a massive ad hoc system of food banks has become established in Canada. To assess the food insecurity and nutritional vulnerability of one subgroup of food bank users, interviews were conducted with a sample of 153 women in families using emergency food relief programs in Metropolitan Toronto. Ninety percent reported household incomes which were less than two-thirds of the ‘poverty line’, and 94% reported some degree of food insecurity over the previous 12 months. Seventy percent reported some level of absolute food deprivation, despite using food banks. The findings highlight the limited capacity of ad hoc, charitable food assistance programs to respond to problems of household food insecurity which arise in the context of severe and chronic poverty.
Résumé
Au cours des deux dernières décennies, la demande d’aide alimentaire auprès des organismes caritatifs n’a cessé d’augmenter et un important système de banques alimentaires s’est mis en place au Canada. Pour évaluer la précarité et la vulnérabilité alimentaires d’un sous-groupe d’usagers des banques alimentaires, on a interviewé un échantillon de 153 femmes dans des familles faisant appel aux programmes d’aide alimentaire d’urgence dans la région métropolitaine de Toronto. Quatre-vingt dix pour cent d’entre elles ont déclaré disposer d’un revenu représentant moins de deux tiers du revenu correspondant au « seuil de pauvreté », et 94 % d’entre elles ont déclaré avoir craint manquer de nourriture au cours des 12 mois précédents. Soixante dix pour cent ont déclaré un certain manque absolu de nourriture malgré leur recours aux banques alimentaires. Les résultats soulignent les capacités limitées des programmes d’aide alimentaire caritatifs pour répondre aux problèmes d’insécurité alimentaire vécue dans les foyers souffrant de pauvreté extrême et chronique.
Footnotes
This research was funded by Health Canada through the National Health Research and Development Program (NHRDP), NHRDP Project No. 6606-5609-201.
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