Right now, more than four million people are experiencing food insecurity in Canada. At any given time, one in eight households are unable to access enough food to meet their needs because they simply can’t afford it.
At Daily Bread Food Bank, we know that to end hunger, we must end poverty. That is why advocacy is a core component of our mission.
We recently developed a petition calling on the Government of Ontario to commit to reducing poverty by 50% by 2030. Ontario currently has a Poverty Reduction Strategy, but it falls short of setting an ambitious poverty reduction target.
Within a few months, the petition generated 27,646 signatures, demonstrating strong public support for tackling poverty and food insecurity in our communities.
We will be presenting this petition to the Premier and MPPs at Queen’s Park in the coming weeks, and we hope it will spark prompt action.
While the pandemic has led to many hardships, it has also shown that meaningful policy change can happen when there is political will. With food bank visits continuing to rise in Toronto, we need strong government action to prevent the COVID-19 from becoming a long-term food insecurity crisis.
Your voice matters. It is through our collective advocacy efforts that we will see long-term change.
Stay tuned for updates on the response we receive from government officials. In the meantime, you can check out our new podcast, The 2030 Project to learn about some of the biggest and most pressing social issues facing Canada today, from universal basic income, to digital access, disability rights, the future of work, and more.
