On the cusp of summer, the cold, hard edge of hunger is hitting North America.
At a time when experts are warning about global food shortages, a new report from Canada says individuals living on government benefits are being forced to live with less.
Stephen Jones, 56, told the Toronto Globe and Mail that Canada’s inflation has forced him to change his shopping habits with an eye on price. Sometimes, even that is not enough.
“Sometimes, by the end of the month, before we’re getting to the due date for the money, I’m down to maybe just a very small meal once a day,” he said, according to the newspaper.
“I am almost on the verge of having to skip meals altogether in a day,” he said.
Jones is living on $1,200 a month in disability benefits (about $940 in U.S. currency), which have supported him for the past 15 years after he had to give up his career in finance due to debilitating depression. But times have changed.
Although at 6.8 percent, Canada’s April inflation rate trailed the 8.3 percent rate of the United States under the Biden administration, it was a 31-year high. Grocery prices rose 10 percent year over year; the highest spike since 1981, the Globe and Mail reported.
Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank, had about 160,0000 visits in March, a record high and a 134 percent increase compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the newspaper.
“People have gotten to the end of their savings, they’re going into debt,” Neil Hetherington, chief executive officer at Daily Bread said, told the Globe and Mail. “And so they’re going to be turning to food banks even more.”
No comments:
Post a Comment