Canada’s food insecurity crisis is not a food shortage problem; it is an income one.
The social safety net designed to prevent a crisis has not kept pace with modern-day realities — precarious work, low and stagnant wages, unaffordable housing, and the rising cost of living.
As a result, Food Banks Canada is now calling for permanent EI reform.
The organization, which supports a network of 5,500 food banks and community organizations across Canada, argues the program must better reflect a labour market where part-time, temporary, seasonal, gig and low-wage workers are often the least protected.
Labour and income-security advocates say Ottawa has already studied the problem for years, but has failed to act while more people with jobs are pushed toward food banks.
“The general state of income security in Ontario is in a dire state right now.”
The result is a high unemployment rate, and an even higher enrollment in employment benefits under a frail, weakened social safety net. Now a new trend seems to have emerged. The crisis is no longer confined to those without paid work.
Increasingly, people with jobs are feeling squeezed by an escalating cost-of-living and affordability crisis that has deepened since the pandemic and exposed the limits of an economic system that some advocates say continues to push costs upward while leaving workers with fewer protections.
Rents have risen, with many renters paying over 30 per cent of their income just to keep a roof over their heads. Homeowners who secured historically low mortgage interest rates during the pandemic are now refinancing at much higher rates. Others are seeking multiple jobs while facing the threat of layoffs and workplace changes driven by artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, the gig economy appears to be in full bloom, with more people trying to survive paycheque to paycheque — if they are lucky enough to have a steady income at all. For those who do, wages often have not kept pace with inflation.
Advocates say those pressures are exposing a gap in Canada’s income-security system: more people are finding ways to get by, yet fewer can rely on public supports when their income collapses or falls short.
In its most recent report card, Food Banks Canada calls for permanent reform to Employment Insurance (EI). Labour and income-security advocates say the federal government already knows what needs to change and has failed to act while more workers are pushed toward food banks, which are “not a long-term solution,” experts told Ricochet.
For Ariela Kong, manager of community and network development at Feed the Need in Durham, the report’s findings are not something new.
She shared the story of a food bank user who works two part-time jobs, adding up to at least 35 hours a week, and then on weekends is a driver for Uber. “But, unfortunately, when they lose one of those things, that’s when they struggle. And then that’s when they have to use the food bank.”
Ben Earle, CEO of Feed the Need in Durham, describes the current context as a polycrisis, which is when people experience multiple challenges at once.
Kong says when people go to a food bank, they are already dealing with multiple financial pressures.
Kong said those challenges are reinforcing one another, from rising housing and food costs to unstable employment and income supports that have not kept pace.
“All of that is putting a lot of pressure on people,” Kong said. “Food insecurity is a symptom of the polycrisis. It’s not necessarily the crisis itself.”
This crisis, she explained, has led not only to an increase in users but also to a higher frequency of visits to a food bank, showing that what was once a short-term solution has become the norm.
As visits increase, demographics expand as well. “We’re seeing people who are working. We’re seeing families, people who own cars and homes, and they still need to use the food bank,” Kong said. “The cost of living has just gone up.”
“Food banks aren’t designed to replace adequate income or affordable housing or any of these things,” emphasized Kong.
Another report finding that was not new for Kong was the flexibility of budget allocation people are spending on groceries.
“For a lot of people, their grocery budget is the flexible bill,” Kong said. “They have to pay rent. If they don’t, they risk losing their housing. They can’t cut transportation either, especially if they need a car to get to work. So, unfortunately, food ends up being the budget that gets cut.”
For Kong, food banks are the “back-up safety net” for when the actual safety net fails those most in need, which is becoming increasingly common.
“The general state of income security in Ontario is in a dire state right now,” said Robin Nobleman, staff lawyer from the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC).
“For a lot of people, their grocery budget is the flexible bill. They have to pay rent. If they don’t, they risk losing their housing… So, unfortunately, food ends up being the budget that gets cut.”
Jeff Tomlinson, secretary-treasurer of the Durham Region Labour Council (DRLC) said, “A huge section of the social safety net is becoming tattered.“
Nobleman said the most affected under the current EI system are “women, immigrants, racialized and Indigenous workers, as well as workers with disabilities,” as they are the most likely to be in part-time, low-wage, and temporary work.
She explains these workers are less likely to access EI because they can’t meet the insurable hours threshold.
According to Mary Anne Martin, a social inequity and food systems researcher, OW (Ontario Works) “took a big cut in 1995 when Mike Harris came into power, and it’s just never recovered.“
The Canada Labour Congress (CLC) and the Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) agree with Food Banks Canada, but both say Ottawa must do more if it wants to tackle food and income insecurity at its roots.
Nobleman said the federal government has known for a long time what reforms are needed.
“They’ve been consulting the public on EI improvements for years, so the solutions are really clear,” Nobleman said. “What’s missing is the action.”
The most recent comprehensive consultations took place in 2021 and 2022, when Employment and Social Development Canada held “over 35 virtual national and regional roundtables” with workers, employers, unions, academics and others, who shared “their input and views on all aspects of the EI program,” Jessica Lacombe, from ESDC’s media relations department, said in a written statement to Ricochet.
Nobleman said the federal government suggested it wants to introduce reforms as a broader package rather than through standalone changes, but doesn’t understand why that hasn’t happened.
“I‘m not sure what they’re waiting for. Now is the time; we’re in an economic crisis,“ said Nobleman.
Employment Insurance has undergone nearly 50 legislative and regulatory changes since 1996, according to the federal government’s EI Monitoring and Assessment Report.
Food Banks Canada calls for:
- a national EI eligibility threshold of 420 hours
- a minimum weekly benefit floor of at least $450 and above the 55 per cent replacement rate
- the creation of additional pathways to include part-time, self-employed, seasonal, and gig workers
- strengthening enforcement to decrease worker misclassification
Food Banks Canada also proposed reforms to the Canada Workers Benefit, the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB).
Tomlinson said Food Banks Canada’s proposals are “a start,” but labour is pushing for more expansive reforms.
“As a labour council, we have a little more sort of leeway to put forward radical proposals than a food bank’s organization,” that generally, Tomlinson explained, “rely on philanthropy.”
He explained the labour movement passed an EI resolution at the CLC convention in Winnipeg in May, which calls for:
- eliminating the one-week waiting period
- eliminating the 50-week cap on combined regular and special benefits
- increasing the regular benefit period to 65 weeks for all workers
- eliminating the clawbacks because of severance pay
- establishing a 360-hour national entrance requirement
- phasing in an increase in EI benefits to 60 per cent, eventually rising to 65 per cent and 85 per cent for low-income earners
Only 38 per cent of unemployed workers can access EI, Nobleman said, and the rate is likely even lower for low-wage workers. She called that a historic low, compared with about 80 per cent in the 1980s.
Nobleman said ISAC met with Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu in April alongside other organizations representing workers. Her impression, she said, was Hajdu supports EI reform, though there may be less support elsewhere in the Liberal caucus.
ISAC’s proposals overlap with the CLC’s, including a minimum of 360 hours or 12 weeks, whichever is more beneficial for the worker, a benefit rate of 70 per cent and a $600 minimum floor based on lessons from pandemic-era Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments and inflation since then.
Tomlinson said EI is “not universally accessible,” even for people who pay into it. Nobleman made a similar point about migrant workers, who may pay EI premiums but face major barriers to accessing regular benefits.
EI “hasn’t kept pace with employment markets,” Nobleman said. “They just keep applying bandages, but the EI system really needs major surgery.“
In a statement, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) said the federal government is “strengthening our social safety net” and working to make EI better reflect the modern workforce.
When asked for specifics, Jennifer Kozelj, press secretary for the Minister of Jobs and Families, reiterated, “Canada’s EI system has and continues to be updated to reflect current realities.”
“A solution to food insecurity goes beyond EI, goes beyond housing costs.”
They highlight the EI sickness benefits extension, the new shared benefit for adoptive parents and “extending supports for seasonal workers in 13 targeted EI regions until October 2026,” with the Spring Economic Update 2026 calling for an extension of said supports for two more years.
The department also pointed to temporary tariff-related EI measures will expire this fall, including waiving the one-week waiting period, suspending some severance-related deductions and providing extra weeks of benefits to long-tenured workers.
Still, Tomlinson said EI reform is only one part of a larger affordability crisis shaped by wage stagnation, declining union density, reduced social housing construction, the financialization of housing, free trade agreements and the concentration of food markets.
Concentration, the Canadian anti-monopoly project (CAMP) sees throughout the entire food system, not just in the retail sector.
But, in particular, high market concentration in the grocery sector reduces consumer choice and inflates prices, said Curtis McCord from CAMP. He also explained, barriers such as restrictive property controls, prevent competition from emerging.
Tomlinson said relying on tax credits or food banks cannot solve structural poverty. Instead, he argued governments need to confront private control over wages, housing and food distribution.
“A solution to food insecurity goes beyond EI, goes beyond housing costs,” Tomlinson said.
