A new report from Food Banks Canada says the number of people using food banks across the country surged to an all-time high earlier this year.
It says there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in March -- a figure that was 15 per cent higher than the number of visits in the same month last year and 35 per cent higher than visits in March 2019, before the pandemic hit.
The report says high inflation and lowsocial assistance rates have contributed to the rise in food bank usage.
Kirstin Beardsley, the CEO of Food Banks Canada, calls the numbers "devastating."
She says rapid inflation combined with what she calls a "broken social safety net" have mainly affected low-income and fixed-income groups such as seniors and students.
The report suggests long-term and short-term solutions, including creating a universal minimum income floor for lower-income Canadians and providing more affordable and rent-assisted housing.