A Follow-up Study of Child Hunger in Canada - June 2001

6. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations

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Hunger is real and measurable among children in Canada. Direct measures of hunger are necessarily an extreme indicator of food insecurity. They are also indicative of more serious problems than broader measures of food insecurity such as poverty rates. Casting the net too widely undermines the credibility of those advocating for food as a basic human need, while measuring only hunger focuses the issue too narrowly for a broad social equity response.

1. We recommend that Canada implement a systematic measurement process for hunger and individual and household food insecurity, possibly through the Canadian Population Health Initiative.

   Despite differences in Canadian and American hunger rates and situations, conclusions from U.S. hunger studies are similar to findings in this study (Nestle and Guttmacher, 1992). As in the United States, hunger results when very poor families have insufficient money to purchase food. Inadequate income is a function of low earnings and low social assistance benefits in comparison to the costs of non-food items. The obvious solution is to raise the minimum wage and social assistance rates.

2. We recommend that social assistance rates be raised to ensure that the fundamentally important basic human need for food be properly met within all family types across Canada.

3. We also recommend that the legislated minimum wage be raised to ensure that all families have access to sufficient food — a fundamental basic human need that cannot be ignored by responsible governments.

   While we did not ask about barriers to employment, affordable, accessible child care is necessary if women, and in particular, lone mothers, are to be able to join the work force and reduce the time that they spend in poverty and dependency. In fact, a mother obtaining a full time job and achieving a consequent increase in income adequacy, was predictive of moving out of the hunger state.

4. We recommend that barriers to full time employment of particularly lone mothers be addressed, with special attention to affordable, accessible day care.

   We noted that a precipitous decline in income associated with significant changes in family composition and employment status moved families from a non-hungry to a hungry state. The association of deteriorated health status in the primary caregiver in these families further highlights family stress during this transition.

5. We recommend that public sector personnel who work with families — be they health providers, teachers, social service personnel, clergy, or others — learn to recognize and assist families suffering from severe work dislocation resulting in precipitous income decline. Social program eligibility rules must recognize the precariousness of such families.

   While representing only 22% of the hungry population in any given two year period, families who experience persistent hunger are remarkably stable in terms of family composition, employment status, and parental education. They likely represent the 'underclass' of individuals who do not cycle in and out of the labour market, but rather remain marginalized from mainstream economic activity. Despite socio-demographic stability, these families also experience the highest levels of family dysfunction of all hunger and non-hunger groups.

6. We recommend that a motivating, acceptable, participative, respectful, and evidence-based long-term strategy of welfare reform be implemented to assist families living in long-term poverty to gain self-sufficiency and an improved quality of life.

   Use of food banks is a true marker of hunger. However, only a third of the hungry use their services. Hunger in families is alleviated by money to buy food, not by charitable sources of food from friends, or relatives, or from food banks.

7. We recommend that governments recognize the unsuitability of food banks as a public policy solution to hunger and commit to their elimination in favour of a condition of universal food security in Canada.

   The poor health of children experiencing hunger is well-established in the literature and has been documented in this study. Hungry children were found to suffer from poorly controlled asthma that is possibly exacerbated by exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The complex interplay between poverty and the ill-health of children, and amongst poverty, ill-health and smoking, must be addressed sensitively, comprehensively, and holistically.

8. We recommend that the National Children's Agenda and other complementary child health and social development initiatives prioritize the health of Canada's poorest children and their families in their action plans.

   And finally, recognizing the unique richness of the NLSCY and the continued need for research into child hunger, child poverty, and appropriate social policy:

9. We recommend that the health, educational, and social outcomes of Canada's most disadvantaged children be regularly monitored and that research findings on these outcomes be utilized by policy makers to improve child well-being.