ST. JOHN’S - Outdated federal benefits are leaving precarious and underemployed workers behind — needing more help from Food Banks — according to a national organization representing those non-profit organizations.
On Monday, Food Banks Canada said more working people and families are increasingly leaning on food banks to eat, with either little or no help from Employment Insurance (EI) programs. The group said one in five food bank clients are working, many of them full-time.
“The underlying system has not been fully modernized for decades,” the organization wrote in its 2026 Poverty Report Cards, released Monday. The report added, “EI is not consistently providing timely or adequate support when people need it most.”
The federal EI program needs to better accommodate irregular working schedules, gig workers, multiple jobs and contract workers, the Food Banks Canada argued. It’s also calling for a higher benefit floor — $450 per week — and extended benefits for people who are unable to find a new job when their EI expires.
“EI was built at a time when full-time employment was the norm,” said Richard Matern, the director of research at Food Banks Canada. “However, we’re seeing more people with part-time, casual or precarious jobs who are struggling to make ends meet.”
“They’re not covered by the current system.”
Matern said the federal government should raise EI rates across the board, up from the 55 per cent of previous income that’s currently covered by the program.
The organization’s ongoing call for a renewed EI program is one of its top recommendations in the annual Poverty Report Cards report, which showed some mixed results across the country.
Slightly fewer Canadians are falling into a “severely inadequate standard of living,” the organization found, but more are struggling to access health care as food and shelter costs continue to outpace inflation.
The group gave the country a D+ grade, noting that some of its legislative suggestions — like the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB) — will soon come into effect.
There’s a lot of anticipation for the first program benefit at the Bridges to Hope foodbank in downtown St. John’s — where donations have been stretched thin so far in 2026.
“We’re already hearing people saying to us, I just need to get by until then,” Executive Director Lesley Burgess said.
The program will send it’s first payment to Canadians on June 5, as part of the transition from the GST/HST credit to the new CGEB.
Increased demand at Food Banks
Burgess said demand at Bridges to Hope is up roughly 20 per cent, year over year — a big shift from relatively stable changes at the end of 2025.
To meet the needs of the influx of part-time or full-time workers calling, Burgess said the food bank has begun staying open past business hours.
“Even, you know, two-parent families with both parents working full-time are still coming to the food bank because their rent is too high and groceries are too expensive. And now gas is too expensive,” she added. “There’s just all these compounding factors.”
But the increased demand is also making it harder for her organization to keep their shelves stocked as donations falter when demand rises.
“We used to be able to plan, and there’s really no way to plan anymore,” Burgess said. “It seems like we’re, every day, in an emergency situation.”
Food Banks Canada’s annual report includes a list of other policy recommendations including the creation of a national housing accord.
Matern also argued the federal government should undertake a federal parliamentary study on social assistance rates across the country.
His group argues that the economy has fundamentally changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, and food bank usage now appears to be permanently growing.
“Regardless of how the economy is doing, regardless of employment rates, we are seeing rising levels of food bank use,” Matern said.
“We are observing that this is a combination of both gaps in our income security system, as well as the ongoing affordability challenges people are facing.”
The 2026 Poverty Report Cards graded every jurisdiction, except Nunavut where data was unavailable. Quebec scored highest, at a C, while New Brunswick was the only province to receive an F — in part due to what Food Banks Canada called insufficient social assistance rates.