5. Conclusion
Despite economic growth and a public safety net, one in ten Canadians still lacked food security, at least once in the past 12 months. Recent reductions in the social policy expenditures may have impacted these numbers. This form of insecurity, along with job insecurity and economic insecurity have both individual and societal effects. Food insecure households were heterogeneous and may require a variety of policy responses because of the links to other forms of disadvantage. Preventive policies should be directed to households that are at risk of being food insecure. Three quarters of the households that were food insecure had an annual standardized income of less than $19,000. Though food insecure households had low incomes, not all low income households were food insecure. Many food insecure households were dependant on income transfers but a majority had earnings as their main source of income. Targeted income supports to those without sufficient income may miss the large number of working poor who are food insecure. The amount of support and frequency of payments may also be examined since households do not have enough flexibility to cover unexpected draws on income. It may be necessary to have quickly available emergency financial support as well as more sustained type of support.
Three levels of food insecurity were examined. Ten per cent of households experience all levels of food insecurity but the numbers are concentrated among low-income households and families with young children. Four per cent of households were food poor — the most severe form of food insecurity, where they had experienced an episode when they did not have enough food to eat because of a lack of money in the past twelve months. The experience of food insecurity may be an isolated event for some but for many it is a recurrent one, frequently at the end of the month. These households engage in more coping strategies than households at the other two levels and preferred to make their income dollars go further rather than using charitable sources of food. A successful policy would provide quick emergency help without high transaction efforts or administrative restrictions, sufficient and frequent income support payments and support that allows households to use mainstream sources of food. It would also be important to include consistent questions on food insecurity on future surveys in order to monitor trends.
What's New
