Montreal food banks send clear message to Quebec: we want more funding
Posted November 28, 2024 5:04 pm.
Last Updated November 28, 2024 5:48 pm.
Montreal’s community organizations working to fight against growing food insecurity say they are tired of being ignored and are demanding an immediate funding increase from Premier François Legault’s government.
“We are unable to meet the spiking, skyrocketing demand,” said Tasha Lackman, executive director at the Depot Community Food Centre during a press conference Thursday.
“We have about 100 to 150 people every month who are attempted to access services.”
Shelves at the community centre are half empty, and Lackman says they’ve been forced to turn people away every day as demand continues to grow.
Food banks in Montreal say more than 15 per cent of the population in the city is suffering from food insecurity, compared to 11 per cent for the rest of Quebec. They add they’ve have been giving away more than 20,000 food baskets a year in order to deal with triple the demand in the last three years.
“The Depot gets about $150,000 a year, that is a small fraction of what we asked for,” said Lackman. “Just for Montreal, the increase in need was $160 million, and we got one per cent of that as a sector.”
Due to the lack of funding, they’ve had to resort to measures such as putting people on a waiting list to stop the increasing demand; cutting the size of their food baskets by half; and handing out baskets once a month instead of every two weeks. They’ve even had to resort to reducing the opening hours of their community restaurant.
#WATCH: "We have no choice but to be vigilant and to be like bargain hunters ," says Victoria while shopping for groceries, as higher prices over the years are causing many to turn to food banks, who are now asking for government support.
— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) November 28, 2024
READ:https://t.co/UiBaTO22Br pic.twitter.com/VdnxMLU77d
“Our demand is that there is an increase of mission-based funding for organizations that are working in food insecurity in Montreal and for all organizations in the sector who are working by, for and with members of the community who are living in the community,” said Lackman.
“Organizations on the front lines know the solutions, we have the solutions, we want to collaborate and we want to be recognized for our expertise.”
