Statistics Canada’s October 2024 Health Reports is a study of food insecurity among Canadians. It found that food insecurity is on the rise. More, they say food insecurity is a sensitive marker of financial hardship. “Households with children, one-parent households, renters and those reliant on government assistance for income are particularly vulnerable,” they write in the report, Trends in household food insecurity from the Canadian Community Health Survey 2017 to 2022. 

“Levels of food insecurity generally tracked with changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), particularly in 2022 when inflation reached peak levels. This is consistent with evidence that food insecurity is a marker of household financial circumstances,” they add. In general, household food insecurity tracked alongside changes in both the all-items index and the index for food purchased from stores, they add. “Following relatively stable levels in 2020 and in the first half of 2021, levels of food insecurity began to climb concurrently with approximately a five per cent year-over-year increase in the all-items CPI in fall 2021.” 

In addition to higher prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, there was also an increase in the severity of food insecurity, with more households reporting moderate or severe food insecurity in the previous 12 months compared with 2021.  

Statistics Canada began measuring food insecurity in 2019 as part of a national Canadian Income Survey (CIS).  

In the fall of 2020, the report estimates that 9.6 per cent of Canadians over age 12 had some form of food insecurity in their household in the previous 12 months. This increased to 15.6 per cent in 2022.  

“The year 2021 was marked by the phasing out of most pandemic-related benefits and government transfers, as well as rising broad-based inflation in the latter half of the year,” they write. “This was followed by a further increase in the cost of living, particularly food prices, in 2022.”