EXCLUSIVE： Are people abusing Canadian food bank resources？
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Summary
In this episode, reporter Leah Muschett speaks with Hamason Benz-Knight, Manager of Strategic Relations, Relationships and Partnerships at the Edmonton Food Bank, about the rise in the number of people using food banks across Canada.
Transcript
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Hello, everyone. My name is Leah Muschett. I'm a reporter here at the Western Standard.
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And today my guest is Hamason Benz-Knight. She is a manager of strategic relations,
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relationships and partnerships at Edmonton Food Bank. And today she's going to join me since
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it's the end of the year. I thought it'd be a good time to just go over because the Canadian Food
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Bank has recently announced that in March 2025, there's been a rise in people using food banks
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across Canada. So I'm going to ask Hamason if the Edmonton Food Bank has also experienced the same
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thing. So welcome, Hamason. Thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it. Thank you for not having me.
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This is an awesome opportunity for me to share about Edmonton's Food Bank. Oh, that's great. Okay.
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Yeah. So I guess I, yeah, my first question would be, has Edmonton been experiencing the same rise in
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2025? Unfortunately, we've been seeing a steady increase since 2020. So between 2020 and 2025,
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our increase has gone up about 106% through the one program, our hamper programs. So right now we're
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currently feeding more than 43,000 people monthly a food hamper. And that doesn't include the meals
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and snack programs that we're supplying to those soup kitchens and shelters throughout Edmonton. So
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it has been an ongoing challenge for us with this unprecedented need and for us to even rejig some
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of our systems to make sure that we can keep up with demand. Okay. Yeah. Well, in that case as well,
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what do you think is driving the rise in people having to use food banks? Do you think it's like
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inflation, unemployment, or like multiple factors? It is definitely multiple factors. The cost of
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living has increased. There is lack of jobs, especially use on employment is huge at this time.
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And of course, there are always challenges in a person's household. There can be unexpected expenses
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that creates those challenges. For example, we had a woman in her 80s reach out to us. She
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unfortunately needs oxygen. So one of those portable tanks only lasts three to four hours. She relies
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on DATS to take her anywhere. And of course she could not get around to access her food support.
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And one of the shocking things is, is that she hadn't needed our services for 27 years. So right now
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with the increase of affordability for a household or an individual, she has not been able to make ends
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meet. And so she's had to reach out to us. We have identified her as a seriously vulnerable
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individual. And so we have made arrangements for some home deliveries for her until she's able to
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rearrange some of her finances. So it is a challenging time for individuals from seniors to individuals,
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because we're seeing a lot more people sharing accommodations to try to make it through the month,
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as well as household and families out there. So it is definitely impacting everyone. A lot of working
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Well, in that case as well, I would like to know, because I think I talked to Red Deer and they told
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me that lots of their food bank people who come regularly are elderly people. So would you say
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that's one of the highest like demographic wise of people coming to your food bank?
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I wouldn't say it's the highest, I believe the highest are the single households, as well as those
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individuals that are actually working, whether it's part time or even full time. But unfortunately,
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the cost of living versus the pay is so disproportionate that they can't make it work.
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So no matter what, we are seeing a lot of individuals and families coming to see us. So
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unfortunately, I can't pinpoint a specific target group other than it's just hitting everyone,
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unfortunately, at this time. So we're very fortunate that we have a lot of community support because of
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course, we don't receive government funding from any level of government for our programs, core functions,
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and services here in Edmonton. And we do rely 100% on the community to allow us to keep our doors open.
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Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I okay, so also on your website, it says that 30, 37% of those using the
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food bank resources are going to children. So would that mean, like, like you said, family, single households,
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do you mean like one parent households? Like, yeah, it's a combination of single parents,
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double parent households, as well as anybody, for example, our children numbers are anyone under 18.
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So it could be a young person living on their own between 17 and 18. They're needing our help as well.
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And that's where we've seen that shared accommodation, people are trying to stretch their
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dollars by sharing accommodations, because that is, unfortunately, where majority of our clients
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allocate funds. So right now, our clients have told us that over 50% of their income is going towards
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keeping a roof over their head. And that is extremely important, especially here in Canada. And here in
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Edmonton and Alberta, right, we have to make sure that we have those accommodations. So what happens when
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rents go up, your money's not going as far as you want it to, the first area that's cut back is your
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food budget, because that's considered discretionary when you need to keep that roof over your head.
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Yeah. And I know there's been a recent report that prices are even going to go up even more in 2026 for
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groceries and stuff. So yeah, that sounds very difficult. And I guess my next question would be,
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I know you said it's hard to pinpoint because you might not exactly have the numbers. But also,
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I'm wondering if you could tell me if there is also a lot of usage for students, because obviously,
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they're having to pay tuition, cost of living, do you think those numbers are large as well for those
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people? I don't think we gather that kind of data from the individuals that we see. We do know that
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our local institutions, like the campus food banks, we will support as they need it. So some students
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will be going directly to the campus food banks, others are still living at home, so it would be
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captured under those households. So we don't necessarily target exactly students. But when you
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think about it, anyone under 18, or 17 are still in school. So those would be that and that's close to 37%. So
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that's a lot of young people in that bracket that are needing our support. So I can tell
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you that that's a huge number, but we don't necessarily track the university area of students.
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Okay. I also wanted to talk to you, do you guys do emergency hampers? Because I didn't see it on your
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website, but I could have been missing that somewhere. Do you guys do that?
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Actually, we used to call all of our hampers emergency hampers. But because of the changes,
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the demographics, the needs here, and how much that need is, we're not a temporary solution any
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longer. We're needed all the time for some of these households. So that's why we kind of remove
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that emergency side of things for our hamper programs, because people are needing us regularly
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to help bridge that gap monthly, some individuals. Our average is only about five times a year,
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five or six. But there are some people that are really struggling. And that's where we're like,
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it's not emergency. It's just keeping them going at this time. We do have kind of homeless packages,
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like a homeless bag that would be handed out to an individual coming straight to us. We do have
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some like bags with some key essentials. If somebody walks in like, right after 430,
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and we can't do a full hamper, we need them to come back. So we do have those packages available,
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I guess you could call those an emergency bag. But realistically, our emergency hampers,
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they're just called our hampers at this point. And that those are key staples, as well as fresh
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packaged, as well as frozen items in it that will help a household or an individual. And we're talking
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each box about 15 kilos. So over 30 pounds of food each box that goes out.
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Okay, okay. So in that case, I was talking to Calgary Food Bank, and they do like a certainly
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it's like a pilot they said they introduced, I think, I don't know if it was a few months ago,
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or like a year ago. But they're talking about how people need to like sign like registration to get
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the food banks resources, say, I don't know if it's weekly or monthly, but you guys do something
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similar? Or is it Yeah, because you said you have like the packages for people who are just coming
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in, and they want something like right away. But also the daily or not daily monthly, no weekly,
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right? I think it's, but yeah, you know, yes, so we have a custom program, a database. So everyone
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that's come into us, we do an intake, and everyone in the household needs to have some kind of ID,
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we don't do a full needs assessment, because it'd be physically impossible to do a needs assessment
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with over 43,000 individuals monthly. So it's one of those balancing acts that we would rather error
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on providing food, then not providing food here in Edmonton, because everyone, everyone's situation
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is different. And we have to take a look at it. So even a T4 from a previous year will not tell you
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what the current situation is in that household. So we do want to make sure that we support
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individuals. And two years ago, we opened our pantry. So again, pantries are unique, where people
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can do their own shopping at it. But again, pantry cannot do the volumes that a hamper program
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where those packaged goods come in, and we make the hampers and send them back out. So the pantry
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program is actually reserved for those individuals that we want to slow down those conversations.
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So we would have somebody that's needing us every other week for multiple months, okay,
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let's bring them in, have a conversation. So we slow down the that engagement. And then we're able to
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find out more about that household. So if we need to redirect them to other programs that could support
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them, whether it's housing, mental health, we have a program called Beyond Food that helps with job
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readiness. Because realistically, food insecurity is a symptom of poverty. And we need to address poverty,
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how do we do that? Getting people the skills and tools to help them find gainful employment will
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help reduce the numbers coming to Edmonton's food bank.
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Mm hmm. Okay, that makes sense. Okay, so this is another demographic question, unfortunately. So if
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you don't have those numbers, that's all right. But I thought I might as well ask.
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So I did ask you Oh, yeah, okay. So apparently, the Calgary Food Bank told me that they did support
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lots of refugees coming from Ukraine, because like the government wasn't helping them with groceries
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and stuff like money wise. So have you guys done anything like that for people just coming into
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the country who are needing like food bank resources?
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Of course, we've seen a lot of new Canadians, those refugees that have come in.
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Many of them actually participate in our Beyond Food program where there's actually ELL programs and
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like English as a Second Language and that kind of thing. And it's not necessarily just with us,
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we work with other organizations like PALS, which is Project Adult Literacy,
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and they help with that. So we're trying to help move them to a different point for them to access
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gainful employment. So I recognize that sometimes it's not the easiest thing, though the individuals
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are here now. So let's make sure that they have the tools and with it, which also includes food,
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to make sure that they can contribute back as wonderful new Canadians with us to help us.
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And even for us, we've received some of our staff are actually Ukrainian individuals that have come
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over. One gentleman who drives our truck, he has a lot of experience, I think back in the Ukraine,
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he flew jets. So it's, and of course, he could not participate in the war. So it's a whole bunch of
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dynamics that are happening right now. But again, the whole point is for us to feed people.
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Politics aside, we're here to support anyone that's here. So that's how we function here in Edmonton.
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Okay, that makes sense. I also maybe want to know about them, like the people who are,
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who just came here, say they even have a job, but like, it's not paying that much. So,
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so you're helping them gain employment. But what about like the ones that, is there a lot of people who
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have employment, but it's still not letting them afford everything they need for, you know,
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a good life on the journey support? Yeah, sorry. Yes, that's very, very good. There is a lot of
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underemployment. So they're not working full time, they can't get the full time hours, they don't have
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the benefits. So there's a whole bunch of those underemployed individuals. So they're trying to work
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full time, minimum wage isn't covering all the bills. And so that's where we're supporting those,
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and be trying to be as helpful as we can. Okay, cool. Yeah. I think my last question would be this.
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There is lots of like, people online that say that international students sometimes abuse food bank
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resources. Have you guys noticed this to be the case at all? Um, no, I haven't. Um, that doesn't
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mean that there isn't abuse out there. When you think about if you have a table of free t-shirts,
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and you say only take one, there will be a couple people out there that don't care about that sign,
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and that will grab multiples. Again, that's their own karma that they have to live with down in the future.
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And there's also sometimes the language barrier. Some places don't even know have food banks,
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they don't even know what that means. And so the pantry has actually allowed us to actually remove
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people from the food programs, because they're like, Oh, this is what it's for. So again, we have
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to have those, take that moment, and step back and just have those honest conversations to make sure
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people really understand what a food bank is about. Okay, that makes sense. Well, in that case,
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thank you very much, Thomas. And that was all my questions. So thanks again for joining us. We
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really appreciate it. Um, yeah, and if you guys liked this video, um, you should definitely subscribe
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which is westernstandard.news, $10 a month and $100 a year. And yeah, that's all I have to say.
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So thank you. Thank you very much, everyone. And goodbye.