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Victor stocks shelves at the North York Harvest Food Bank in Toronto on Tuesday Oct. 20, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
By The Canadian Press

Canadian food bank use hits 2.3 million monthly visits due to grocery costs: report

Oct 21, 2026 | 4:01 AM

A new report from Food Banks Canada says the number of Canadians struggling with food insecurity continues to grow, as food bank visits hit a new record of more than 2.3 million in March.

The non-profit organization’s latest HungerCount report, released today, says the cost-of-living crisis and economic pressures are weighing heavily on nearly 10 million Canadians experiencing food insecurity.

Its annual survey recorded more than 2,355,000 visits to food banks across Canada in March 2026, an 8.7 per cent increase from the March 2025 record of more than two million visits.

The report says more than a third of this year’s food bank visits, or nearly 776,000, were made by children.

Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley says people are “running out of options” as they try to balance essential spending, such as paying rent, with rising grocery costs.

The HungerCount report says that since 2021, food prices increased by about 30 per cent, housing costs by 28 per cent and transportation by roughly 24 per cent.

One in five food banks across Canada are reportedly running out of food before meeting the needs of all their clients.

“A lot of folks who used to give to food banks are now finding themselves in need of those services,” Beardsley said.

“A job is not enough to ensure that you are not in need of a food bank anymore,” she added. “There’s no other room in their budget to do anything.”

Beardsley said the federal government’s new Canada Groceries and Essential Benefit is one “positive investment,” but it’s not nearly enough to bridge the gap she’s seeing at the community level or in northern regions, where groceries are sold at higher prices due to transport costs.

The report includes a number of policy recommendations, such as doubling the Canada Workers Benefit for low-income residents, expanding food sovereignty initiatives in the North and investing up to $500 million toward food bank infrastructure to meet the demand.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2026.

Sadeen Mohsen, The Canadian Press


by The Canadian Press