Sherbrooke, Quebec – The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, along with the Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke, Élisabeth Brière, announced a $100-million top-up for the Emergency Food Security Fund. This additional investment will provide more support for food banks and local food organizations, who are coping with higher demand and fewer resources.
The new funding will be divided between Food Banks Canada, Second Harvest, Community Food Centres Canada, Breakfast Club of Canada, Salvation Army, and La Tablée des Chefs, who in turn will distribute it to thousands of local food banks across Canada. Local organizations will use the funding to purchase and distribute food and other basic necessities to meet the emergency needs of the most vulnerable people. They may also hire temporary help to cope with volunteer shortages and adapt operations to help keep workers, volunteers and recipients safe.
To ensure all Canadians have equitable access to safe and healthy food, each organization will dedicate a portion of its funding to projects that directly support underrepresented groups. So far, the Emergency Food Security Fund has supported more than 4,700 local food initiatives across Canada, with over 1,050 initiatives directly supporting Indigenous organizations and communities. The fund has helped to serve safe, healthy and culturally diverse meals to millions of Canadians.
One in seven Canadians lives in a household where there was food insecurity over a one-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic. This led more Canadians to turn to food banks to feed their families, with disproportionate impacts on the most vulnerable. The Government of Canada is committed to addressing the pandemic's impacts by improving access to safe and nutritious food.
Source : Government of Canada