More than one third of Canadians rely on food banks each month and Ontario has the most users, according to a
new national survey.
The report put out by the Ontario Association of Food Banks said the total number of food bank users has fallen just over four per cent from last year, but is up more than eight per cent from 1997.
The stats are part of a national grassroots anti-hunger campaign. The survey also suggests almost eight per cent of users own their own homes, while 20 per cent have jobs or collect EI.
OAFB's Executive Director Katharine Schmidt said numbers went down from last year because some soup kitchens had to close for lack of resources, not because demand fell. She's calling on governments to increase access to EI, improve tax benefits and raise minimum wages.