The CEO of the UHC Hub of Opportunities and President of the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association says she’s pleased to see food banks included in the 2026 federal budget.
June Muir is reacting to news in the budget, released on Thursday afternoon, which includes more support for food banks across the nation.
The budget includes $124-million over the next three years to help food banks across Canada buy more food and keep up with record demand of food assistance.
The budget also included a proposed one-time top-up to the Groceries and Essentials Benefit, which could provide a family of four with about $680 on top of their regular quarterly payments.
Muir says the additional funding could help local food banks purchase more food and potentially increase how often they’re able to serve people. The UHC Hub currently sees about 300 visitors every day and serves as a hub for 15 local food banks.
She says this funding is great news as demand soars.
“We see a lot of people each and every day, numbers are up and donations are down. So this is truly great news and I know it’s going to make a lot of families and individuals very happy to hear because income might not be going up and seniors are living on fixed incomes, groceries are very expensive to buy and it is good news.”
Muir says the organization has had to reduce how often it provides food assistance.
“Right now, we are able to assist twice a month. We were assisting once a week, but it would be great to get back to this. We’d like to be able to get back to that because people truly do need help with food assistance. Think about how expensive food is and it’s really hard for many families and individuals to put food on the table.”
She says it’s individuals of all ages and statuses turning to food banks for assistance.
“People don’t realize it could be your friends, your neighbours, people who are working... if they’re earning minimum wage, they’re needing help and they will come to a food bank. We have gone from an emergency service to a need and that is very sad, but this is truly going to help and it is going to make a difference.”
Muir says seniors on fixed incomes are among those increasingly turning to food banks, as they’re forced to balance the rising costs of groceries, rent and utilities.
She adds that UHC and the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association do apply for federal grants when available, so they will be keeping a close eye on when this funding will become available.
The federal budget includes more than $142-billion in new spending, with Ottawa projecting a deficit of $62.3-billion.