More people are asking for food assistance in the Canadian province

According to the study, this number represents the largest increase in one year recorded by the network of these institutions in the governorate.

The report issued by Feed Ontario, a group of organizations that fight hunger, indicated that more than 800,000 individuals in that province requested emergency food aid in the aforementioned period.

Total visits to those centers also rose similarly in that time, with total visits reaching more than 5.9 million, or 36 percent more than the previous year.

Much of the growth came from new visitors, who accounted for two out of every five people who used these services, the detailed analysis cited by CTV News said.

According to the document, the use of food banks shows a successively increasing trend over the past seven years.

He attributed precarious work, the erosion of social support programs and the lack of affordable housing as contributing factors to the prevailing situation.

The report highlighted how food bank use continues to grow despite the fact that in 2022 the unemployment rate returned to pre-Covid-19 levels.

He reported that more and more workers are turning to these assistance institutions, with one in six visitors citing work as their main source of income in the period covered by the report.

This represents an increase of 37 percent over the previous year, and an increase of 82 percent over the 2016-2017 period, he said.

“Previously, having a job meant you didn’t need to access a food bank,” Caroline Stewart, CEO of Feed Ontario, wrote in a statement.

“That is not the case. “Workers in Ontario have difficulty earning enough income to cover their current costs of living, even when working multiple jobs or trying to cut back on expenses,” he warned.

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