Getting enough to eat: A daily struggle for too many people and families
Despite the slowdown in inflation in 2025, food insecurity is still a major problem. As food aid requests reach record highs, community agencies are stepping up to respond to the emergency—and create sustainable solutions.
Prices rise, needs explode
The cost for a basket of nutritious food has spiked 28% in less than three years.1 For a family of four, this means an extra $3,000 out of their pocket every year.1 In Greater Montreal, the demand for food aid has jumped by 63% in just two years, with 500,000 requests now filled each month.2
Behind these statistics is the daily reality of not only children, workers, seniors, and single people but also community agencies that are ramping up their efforts to meet growing demand.
Having a job is no longer enough
Although people on social assistance are still the ones most affected by food insecurity, one in five households who turn to food assistance has employment income.2
Different profiles facing the same emergency
Single-parent families, newcomers, single people, and young low-income workers are the varied types of people who knock on the doors of food assistance agencies. The data also show the agonizing or difficult choices that people have to make: Pay the rent or feed their children? Pay for a transit pass or buy fruit and vegetables?
Living with food insecurity every day
Food insecurity means skipping meals, reducing portions, and going without so your children can eat. It also means sending your children to school on an empty stomach, avoiding fresh produce because of the cost, and living with the constant dread of not having enough to eat.
Between 2021 and 2024, Quebec’s food insecurity rate rose from 13% to nearly 20%,
in line with the general increase across Canada. Despite this sharp rise,
Quebec still has one of the country’s lowest food insecurity rates.3
What are the causes?
Many factors are behind this crisis: low incomes, social isolation, physical and mental health problems, lack of food knowledge, limited access to affordable grocery stores, as well as high housing costs that eat into food budgets.
Concrete, community-led solutions
As food insecurity gains ground, community agencies continue to offer support and concrete solutions on the front line. Thanks to help from Centraide, they can tailor their innovative initiatives to neighbourhood realities.
These actions include:
- Community gardens and urban greenhouses, which help people access fresh food and create spaces for them to socialize.
- Collective kitchens, where people can come together to learn to cook healthy and affordable meals.
- Community thrift stores, which serve as distribution points for low-cost or free food for people in vulnerable situations.
- Mobile neighbourhood markets, which provide fresh fruit and vegetables directly to communities.
- Front-line services to provide comprehensive food aid and social support.
- Local systems that encourage people eat food that is locally produced and distributed.
By acting on both emergency aid and long-term alternatives, these projects create a more solid foundation for a fairer, more equitable food future.
Some initiatives like Resto Plateau go beyond food security and include sociovocational integration. Every day, this agency’s community restaurant prepares nearly 200 meals at a sliding-scale price while providing on-the-job training to people who have had trouble accessing the job market. This type of project shows how we can address both food emergencies and broader social issues at the same time.
Main takeaways
- +28% in under 3 years: This is how much the cost for a basket of nutritious food has risen for a family of 4—an increase of over $3,000 a year for basic groceries.1
- +63% in 2 years: This is the rise in demand for emergency food in Greater Montreal, with 500,000 requests filled each month.2
- 1 in 5 households that turn to food aid has employment income, a trend that is on the rise in the region and across Quebec.2
- 13% to 20%: This is the increase in Quebec’s food insecurity rate from 2021 to 2024, a clear sign of a worsening problem.3
Sources
1. Alima (2024). Rapport 2023-2024 sur le coût du panier à provisions nutritif et économique de Montréal.
2. Food Banks of Quebec (2024). HungerCount 2024.
3. Statistics Canada (2024). Canadian Income Survey 2023. PROOF. (2024). New Data on Household Food Insecurity in 2024.
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