Food Insecurity in Canada, 1998-1999

4. Discussion

4.1 The prevalence of food insecurity in Canada

Though Canada is one of the "food rich" countries, one in ten Canadians were food insecure because of lack of money in the last year. Eight per cent were anxious about not having enough food to eat and 7.8 per cent did not eat the quality or quantity of food they wanted. Moreover, four per cent of Canadians (1,200,000) experienced an episode of food poverty in the past year, an unconscionable number exposed to this state of extreme deprivation. This percentage of food poor Canadians was very similar to the 4.5 per cent who "did not always have enough food to eat" in the NPHS of 1996-1997. In addition to confirming the number of Canadians affected, it suggests that there has not been a real decline. It should also be noted that this estimate of food insecurity may underestimate the real extent of the problem. Those who are food insecure may not be able to afford telephones, may be homeless or may experience other forms of disadvantage that precluded them from being involved in this survey.

The approximate numbers of young adults (870,000) and the numbers of children (920,000) exposed to a situation of food insecurity were also of concern. Lack of sufficient food, even temporarily, can have long term effects on pregnant or lactating mothers as well as on the development of children. Children and young adults may experience nutrition, learning or behaviour problems which may lead to lower income earning potential and social exclusion later in life. The effect on the productivity of adults has also been documented (Tarasuk, 2001).

Food insecure households were not homogeneous. The proportion of food insecure households was very high among households in the lowest third of income, very-low income households, households with welfare/social assistance as their main source of income, tenants, lone-parent families, aboriginal people off-reserve and Canadians with a restriction of activity. The proportion was also slightly higher than the national proportion for young canadians, young families, recent immigrants, women, households living in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and Canadians with a chronic medical condition. The food insecurity problems of these different groups were likely to involve other problems as well as their lower level of household income. For instance, women had lower income than men and the proportion of low-income was higher in Newfoundland²⁴.

4.1.1 Cyclical experience

For some households, food insecurity was an unpleasant episode in the past year. But for more than fifty per cent of food insecure households, the stress is repeated at the end of the month when they engaged in coping strategies such as use of charity and the reduction of their food intake. Not only was their experience cyclical but they were likely to increase hardship, because many of the strategies (borrowing, delayed bills, pay on credit, etc.) increased their budget constraints in the following month. In terms of numbers of food insecure households, the majority of them were the "working poor." It is unlikely that they earn enough to have sufficient margin to save or to weather any emergencies occurring at the end of the month. Thus, these households face a "slippery slope".

4.1.2 Coping strategies

Most families cope with their lack of money to buy food by relying on income management and food management strategies. They returned bottles and used coupons more than any other strategy. As mentioned earlier, they preferred to delay paying bills, to borrow money and to compromise their diet rather than use charitable food sources such as food banks or collective kitchens. However, this statistic of food bank usage might underestimate the true situation because not all individuals who were food insecure use such charitable sources (Tarasuk, 2001).

4.2 Implications for policy

According to the analyses, the factors that increased the likelihood of being food insecure in Canada were low-income households, young families (especially lone-parents), aboriginal people off-reserve, Canadians with a restriction of activity and tenants. Although there is little research on the determinants of food insecurity at the national level in Canada, U.S. or even the U.K. (Tarasuk, 2001), the results confirm findings from past studies: Che and Chen (2001), Andrews et al. (1999), Castner (2000), Mauldon (1996), Olson et al. (1996). Any valid public policy aiming to prevent food insecurity should target these groups. It is likely that these groups have a combination of problems and that policies to address those that are food insecure should also address the other issues.

Though low income is the strongest factor associated with the experience of food insecurity, the problem was not only among those relying on income support programs as the main source of revenue (such as provincial social assistance, old age security, etc.). In fact, at the lowest third of household income, the main source was irrelevant.

Since high fixed payments (rent, hydro and telephone) are due at the beginning of the month, money disposable for food consumption is reduced particularly at the end of the month. In general, the food insecure households did not have sufficient economic resources²⁵ to manage fluctuating or unexpected needs. A full 75 per cent of the food insecure households had a standardized income of less than $19,000.²⁶ The depth of poverty and the difficulties at the end of the month suggest that income assistance paid out twice a month may help. Since most of the low-income households were the working poor, earned income supplements and tax rebates may not be high enough and paid out frequently enough to be helpful.

Public policy to support food insecure households is scarce. Support has largely been provided by the voluntary or charitable sector. Because households were more likely to compromise their diet than to use charitable sources, a system of emergency income support should tide households over and allow them to use mainstream sources of food rather than direct them to charity. With the numbers of young children potentially involved and since close to 70 per cent of food insecure households were families, support for food insecure young households should be a priority. The National Child Benefit should improve the situation of low-income families given that they will receive approximately $2,400 per child.

The larger policy question is the degree to which income transfers allow individuals and families to maintain a socially acceptable standard of living, while still having to rely on food consumption in the market. Since only a minimum is guaranteed, the margin of manoeuvre offered is a key issue. Furthermore, while countries like the United States have food aid, such as food stamps, Canada, at least at the Federal level, does not offer food assistance.

4.3 Limitations

Since one respondent answered questions related to food insecurity on behalf of all members in the households, it is not clear that the responses are accurate for all other household members. Information on work history, income, sources of income, and disposable income are necessary to inform policy on food insecurity. However, at low incomes, it is not only the relation between the income and expenditure, but also the pattern of inflows and outflows within the month or year. Information on those living under the low income cut-off or under conditions of deep poverty (50% of the low income cut-off) and the duration of such poverty may also be linked to the lack of food security. While data was available on income, the "real" amount of money disposable for food consumption and other expenditures was not known. In the multivariate analysis, a proxy strategy was used to estimate the budget constraint by using the household income, home ownership, household size, the type of household, health and geographic characteristics but it probably was not comprehensive enough. Some data on expenditures (mortgage, rent, annual expenses on electricity, water, etc.) were available in the FIS but the data were poor (large number of missing data) of no valid use. Furthermore, the use of the income management and food management strategies in Canada was probably underestimated because the questions were asked only for food insecure households.

²⁴The comparisons were drawn from the 2000 Statistics Canada report Income in Canada 1998.
²⁵However, their assets and debts are unknown.
²⁶Note that 50 per cent of food insecure households had income less than $23,000.