Food bank visits hit new record in Quebec

Food insecurity continues to worsen in Quebec as food bank use breaks new records.

Quebec’s food banks responded to nearly 3.1 million requests for food assistance in March 2025, according to the Hunger Count 2025 published Monday. “It’s huge!” said Martin Munger, Executive Director of the Food Banks of Quebec (BAQ), in an interview.

This represents a 6.6 per cent increase since last year. The increase is even more significant when measured over three years, with a 37 per cent jump since 2022.

“Food bank use has been steadily increasing and continues to increase this year,” Munger said.

Under heavy pressure, food banks are struggling to meet the growing demand, even though they are distributing more food, the Executive Director emphasized. Quebec’s subsidies, indexed to the cost of living, are not keeping pace with the real increase in demand, he added.

This situation creates “a kind of bottleneck,” he explained. “Often, organizations on the ground are in smaller facilities that don’t have enough refrigeration or freezer space.”

Crowded too tightly, some organizations are short of staff.

“We don’t have any trouble finding volunteers,” said Munger. “It’s rewarding work. At some point, if we don’t have space to employ them, we can’t take on more either.”

In the network, 29.4 per cent of the 1,400 organizations had to reduce the size of their food baskets to serve more people, according to the Hunger Count. 10.6 per cent were unable to provide assistance due to a lack of food.

Explosive Cost of Living

The rising cost of living is exacerbating the financial insecurity of the most vulnerable, explained Moisson Montréal Executive Director Chantal Vézina in an interview.

“Everything costs a lot more: food, housing, transportation,” she listed. “There’s also now telephone costs, which are part of our lives. So, all these costs are constantly increasing.”

In the Montreal section of the Hunger Count, Moisson Montréal points out that the rent for a four-and-a-half-bedroom apartment increased by 18 per cent between 2022 and 2024. The price of a “healthy and balanced” diet increased by 16 per cent over the same period.

In Montreal, more and more students are turning to food banks, while rents have increased and the job market is more difficult for young people, Vézina pointed out.

Munger clarified that the Hunger Count data was compiled in March. He fears the situation has deteriorated since then. He mentioned the impact of trade tensions, referring to the recent layoffs that have made headlines.

Faced with rising food insecurity, solutions must be found to put more money in the pockets of the poorest so they can buy their own food, Munger argued.

“It means improving social programs, it means improving the minimum wage, it means solving the housing crisis,” he continued. “If we don’t address these factors, it will continue to grow (food bank use).”

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews