Western Standard - December 29, 2025


Food Bank Use Surges in B.C. as Cost of Living Squeezes Working Families

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15 minutes

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Dan Hong-Taylor

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Summary

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In this episode, we talk to Dan Hong Taylor, Executive Director of Foodbanks BC, about the rise in food bank use across the country. We discuss the reasons behind the increase, the demographics of food bank users, and the impact food bank services are having on our daily lives.

Transcript

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00:00:00.000 Hello, everyone. My name is Leah Muschett. I'm a reporter here at the Western Standard.
00:00:14.340 And today our guest is Dan Hong-Taylor. He's the Executive Director at Foodbanks BC.
00:00:19.960 And today I thought since it's the end of the year, we might discuss a little bit about the
00:00:24.200 rise in food bank use in the country. And so thank you again, Dan, for joining us today.
00:00:31.040 Thanks so much for having me.
00:00:32.380 Thank you. Okay, so basically the Canadian Foodbank has recently reported that compared to 2024,
00:00:38.860 in 2025, the rise in food bank use grew by 5.2%. So why don't you tell us, have your guys' food
00:00:47.620 banks experienced the same rise?
00:00:49.120 Yeah, in BC, we've seen an increase in the last 12 months of about 10% in the number of people
00:00:58.060 that have been visiting food banks. We also measure the number of visits to food banks. That's actually
00:01:03.380 remained around the same since last year. But I mean, the true story there is that food banks are
00:01:10.840 unable to provide as many visiting hours as they once were. They're scaling back on services because
00:01:16.280 they're unable to meet the increased demand that they're seeing. So there's more people needing
00:01:23.200 to access food banks, but it's harder for food banks to continue to meet that need.
00:01:29.280 Yeah. And do you think one of the reasons for this is because of the fact that unemployment is
00:01:35.600 obviously increasing, inflation is obviously an issue, and even like grocery prices are going up
00:01:42.860 significantly? Or do you also think there's other factors involved?
00:01:47.220 Well, when food bank users are asked what the reasons are for coming to the food bank,
00:01:52.980 the top three reasons that we're given in order are cost of food, cost of housing, and low wages.
00:01:59.120 So all of the things that you mentioned there, just the general affordability of life in BC is
00:02:05.380 getting increasingly hard for people. We're seeing a big increase in the number of people who are
00:02:12.540 working full time, yet they still need to turn to the food bank to make ends meet. So cost of living
00:02:20.180 is a major factor in why so many people are coming to food banks in BC.
00:02:25.860 Okay. I also kind of want to talk about a bit of your demographics. Some food banks always mention,
00:02:32.720 like, for example, their highest reason for people coming to food bank is unemployment, or like it's
00:02:39.920 a single household family, stuff like that. So could you tell us a little bit about who's,
00:02:45.520 I guess, the most common people going to food banks, if you have that information?
00:02:52.360 Well, it's a really interesting question. I mean, the profile of food bank users has been changing over
00:02:58.220 time. I think a lot of people would assume that, you know, most people that are using the food banks
00:03:03.340 are either unemployed or on some level of social assistance, disability assistance, for instance.
00:03:11.000 But as I mentioned, that's not the case. We're seeing more and more people who are working full
00:03:14.860 time. In fact, that is the highest bracket of income sources. Now, one in four food bank users in BC
00:03:23.140 is working. So around the socioeconomic situation of food banks, many folks are working. There are
00:03:31.460 people who are on fixed incomes, pensions, and like I said, other benefits. Those benefits allowances
00:03:38.660 are just not keeping pace with the cost of covering life's essentials. And they're still having to use
00:03:44.680 food banks. And those folks are really kind of, unfortunately, entrenched in needing to access
00:03:50.420 these services. We also see disproportionate levels of need among certain groups, such as racialized
00:03:57.460 communities, indigenous people, a lot of new immigrants and refugees who are needing to access
00:04:02.900 the services. And one in three food bank users is a child. So when we talk about, you know, a disproportionate
00:04:10.500 level among certain groups, certainly among kids, we're seeing that particular story being told there.
00:04:19.220 Mm hmm. And like, so when you say kids as well, that obviously probably includes like teenagers,
00:04:25.460 just going like independently as well to the food bank, or it tends to be more households where
00:04:31.540 there's a child under the age of 18. So, you know, we might see, we might see young people coming to the
00:04:39.060 food bank. And for instance, a, we see it saw an increase in the last few years of international
00:04:44.500 students needing to access the services, um, or post-secondary students just generally.
00:04:49.780 But, um, but, but typically when we think, when we look at kids, we look at, you know,
00:04:54.100 that the household and family makeup, and that would normally be, you know, a parent or two parents,
00:05:00.420 plus, plus the, uh, you know, kids in the household.
00:05:02.820 Okay. Okay. Yeah. Uh, as for students as well, I know like some universities have their own food
00:05:10.340 banks. So would they be going more to those ones or, cause you guys are separate from the university
00:05:17.860 ones, right?
00:05:18.340 We are. Um, so the BC's food banks, um, fit many different profiles. Um, some are just
00:05:25.780 independent charities and that's all they do. Others provide a whole suite of different services.
00:05:30.180 Um, but we have seen an increasing number of campus food banks. And, uh, this is reflective
00:05:36.260 of just how tough it is for students to just, just get by. I mean, the cost of going to school is,
00:05:42.100 is very high. The ability to work is limited. Um, and particularly with international students, 1.00
00:05:48.100 you might have a cap on how much work, you know, how many hours you can, you could,
00:05:52.100 you can work or, you know, how much you can earn. So we have seen a, a very concerning rise in the
00:05:57.700 number of campus food banks. And many of those food banks also receive support from some of the
00:06:03.540 more established standard food banks. They might be getting food from those, uh, from those food
00:06:08.420 banks as well. Okay. So to be clear, those university food banks get support from, for example,
00:06:14.740 some of your food banks still like help and donate. Yeah, some do some, some, many of our
00:06:20.260 food banks will work with other community food programs, including, you know, campus food banks.
00:06:25.380 Okay. Okay. Um, now I kind of want to talk about how exactly people can qualify for getting resources
00:06:33.860 at the food banks. Um, for example, the Calgary food bank told me about a pilot project that they
00:06:39.620 are doing where everyone has to register. They have to check their financial statement,
00:06:44.340 some government ID. So I want to know, do you guys do something similar at your guys' food banks?
00:06:49.460 How does it work? We do like to register clients because of course, if we can capture information
00:06:55.300 about who's using the food banks, we have a better sense of, um, you know, what the needs are within
00:07:02.180 different profiles of, of our community. So if we're seeing disproportionate people with disabilities
00:07:07.620 accessing food banks, it tells us that the disability benefits are too low. Um, now,
00:07:13.620 when it comes to checking say financial statements, that's actually something that we really discourage.
00:07:18.980 Um, it can present as a barrier for people to access services. And I understand that,
00:07:24.340 you know, food banks want to ensure that there is a, uh, a sense of, you know, who's using the food bank
00:07:30.100 is, is someone who, um, you know, isn't it has a, has a, an appropriate level of need, but asking for
00:07:37.380 financial information can be very difficult for, uh, both the person who's working in the food bank,
00:07:43.140 but also for the person who's being asked the questions. And it doesn't tell the full picture
00:07:48.260 about, about need, about, you know, whether that person, um, is, is in a financial state to actually,
00:07:55.060 you know, require services from the food bank. So we, we really do try to maintain as lower barrier,
00:08:02.100 um, experience for, for, for folks who are using food banks, trying to create, uh, kind of a welcome
00:08:07.780 and accessible space for people. But we, we do ask questions about, uh, like I said, what brought
00:08:13.700 you to the food bank and, uh, what's the, what's the household, you know, what, what is your primary
00:08:18.900 income source? That information is very helpful for us in our advocacy efforts.
00:08:22.580 Okay. That makes sense. So you guys would still probably ask for ID though, right?
00:08:27.700 Or ID. Yeah. ID is generally pretty standard. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Cause I remember the Calgary
00:08:34.420 food bank one told me that there give people the ability to access like three emergency hampers.
00:08:40.980 And then after that, they do ask for not just ID, but the financial stuff. So the reason why I'm
00:08:47.060 asking that is some people tend to be concerned that people are abusing the resources. So they
00:08:52.420 just want to ensure that the resources are being given to people who need it. So is there any other
00:08:57.300 way you guys ensure this? Well, I will say to address the, the, the question around people
00:09:02.900 taking advantage of the system. Um, I think it's a common misconception, um, that there are a lot of
00:09:08.980 people exploiting the system. It's, it's not the case. A very, very small proportion of, of people who are
00:09:15.220 accessing food banks are doing it where they don't need to. Um, we've, we've seen this in,
00:09:20.580 in kind of studies we've, you know, spoken with, and this is very much reflected across the country.
00:09:25.620 Um, and you know, in, in anything that you do, if you're running a business, there's going to be
00:09:30.740 folks who are, um, taking advantage that, you know, you will have people stealing from a,
00:09:35.540 from a grocery store, but it once again represents a very small proportion of the people who are accessing
00:09:40.580 services. And you wouldn't be asking everyone who came into that store, if you could, um,
00:09:45.220 check their bags to ensure they haven't been stolen, they haven't taken something that they
00:09:48.340 shouldn't do. So it's, uh, it's, it's something that we, you know, we don't, we don't want to ask
00:09:52.180 those questions because once again, it can turn people away who need the services. Um, and it really
00:09:58.100 does, you know, add to the stigma. There's obviously a great deal of stigma associated with having to go to
00:10:03.940 a food bank and, uh, and saying that you need help to feed yourself or feed your family.
00:10:08.820 So reducing the stigma and reducing those barriers, um, is, is a, you know, a high priority for us.
00:10:15.380 And, um, and a big reason why we strongly discourage the, the, the question, asking questions about
00:10:21.220 someone's, um, uh, well, I guess, you know, income level or how much money they have.
00:10:28.020 Okay. Um, so do you guys do, how does it work? Say someone obviously who's homeless, they can't
00:10:35.220 necessarily have certain, uh, like a refrigerator and stuff. So in hampers, they're gonna only have
00:10:40.740 like things they can carry around with them and stuff like that. So do you have emergency hampers?
00:10:46.020 Are people allowed to, I guess, go in themselves and select what they want? How does that process
00:10:51.060 work? Well, there are different models. Absolutely. And in many cases, what a, uh, what one of our member
00:10:57.380 food banks will do, uh, particularly with someone who might be unhoused and doesn't have a fridge and
00:11:02.500 doesn't have a stove or, you know, is, is, is limited by, um, the ability to kind of store or
00:11:08.420 prepare food, they will be provided with a, um, uh, you know, a hamper that's appropriate for, um,
00:11:14.980 their circumstances. Uh, there are other ways that, um, you know, folks will have kind of more
00:11:21.940 of a tailored service depending on what their circumstances are. For instance, you know,
00:11:26.180 seniors packs and, uh, and, and food that's more geared towards meeting the nutritional needs of,
00:11:31.860 of kids, um, and other dietary restrictions, uh, culturally appropriate food is a, is something
00:11:37.940 that most of, you know, our members will continuously strive to do and provide more halal options for
00:11:43.460 instance. Um, but you know, ensuring that we are meeting the needs of the people who are using these
00:11:49.540 services is always going to be a very high priority for us. It's, it can be hard because some of those
00:11:56.500 other food items are a bit cost prohibitive. It's more expensive to buy halal meat for instance, but,
00:12:02.900 um, but there are, you know, always efforts to ensure that the needs of the people who are using
00:12:07.620 the services, um, are being met. Okay. Um, let's talk a little bit about, um, donations. Are you guys
00:12:16.500 like completely private or do you also accept money from different BC cities or province? Yeah.
00:12:23.460 For food banks, BC, um, uh, we work very closely with the provincial government. We have done for
00:12:30.420 a number of years. Um, and through that we've been able to, um, uh, work with them to secure funds to
00:12:37.300 support our members, to also support other food security or hunger relief initiatives, uh, be it
00:12:43.060 providing emergency assistance during times of, of major events like fires and floods. Um, but this has
00:12:49.060 always been finite funding. We don't have any regular source of income coming in from, from the provincial
00:12:55.220 government. Um, this has been accessing end of year budget funds, um, over the past three or three, well,
00:13:01.460 five years now. Uh, we work with a variety of different donors and third party, um, you know,
00:13:09.140 contributors to support both through banks BC and our members. And then there are, you know,
00:13:14.260 private individuals that support us as well. We don't work with any other really, any other
00:13:18.820 groups, no municipalities. Uh, we don't tend to work directly with the federal government.
00:13:23.860 Uh, our, um, you know, our primary sources of donations are coming at a provincial level,
00:13:30.580 but it's been tough because, you know, and when we look at this, particularly at the, uh,
00:13:35.220 frontline food bank level, many of our members have reported significant drops in donations,
00:13:40.820 particularly over the last couple of years. One member just recently was saying that they think
00:13:45.060 that their, their food and financial donations have dropped about 75%. But from, uh, from conversations
00:13:51.940 with, uh, with many folks, 20 to 30% drops in donations seem to be quite standard.
00:13:57.860 Wow. Do you think that also just has to do with affordability? Like people aren't
00:14:02.100 able to donate as much due to the high costs?
00:14:04.820 Exactly. Yeah. It's, um, it's just much harder for people to give right now. So having that discretionary
00:14:11.300 income and, uh, and, you know, the extra cash available that you might have been able to
00:14:15.780 donate, uh, that's just much tougher for more people now. So, uh, I think that's what we're
00:14:20.740 seeing, um, you know, in those donation levels. Okay. Yeah, that sucks. Um, let's see.
00:14:28.900 Yum. I think that's kind of all my questions. So thank you, Dan, for joining us. Really appreciate it.
00:14:34.660 I really appreciate you shedding light on this and, uh, and inviting me on to talk about what
00:14:39.300 we're doing here. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Um, yeah, if you guys enjoyed this video,
00:14:44.260 we have more on our channel, so you can definitely check it out. Our channel is obviously Western
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00:14:59.220 everyone, and goodbye.