The Centre's response to the 2024 Federal Budget

The Centre is pleased to see some of our recommendations in the 2024 Federal Budget, including funding to support the establishment of a National School Food Program, but more is required to address food insecurity in Canada. Below we highlight some key areas of the budget that will impact food access and may reduce food insecurity.

Food insecurity is at crisis levels in Canada, with one in four children living in a food insecure home. Historically Canada has been the only G7 country without a universal school food program. Alongside current programs and support by provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, establishing a healthy meal program in every school will deliver immediate benefit to the millions of children and their families struggling with food insecurity.

Importantly, the budget includes funding to increase the food security and food sovereignty of Indigenous peoples through ongoing investment in the Harvesters Support Grant. Supporting Indigenous people to harvest land-based foods is an alternative to costly southern-based foods that delivers health, cultural and economic benefits. Through rigorous evaluation of these programs across the North, there is concrete evidence of the importance of advancing Indigenous food sovereignty as vital to strengthening food security.

As well, the expansion of the Local Food Infrastructure Fund will provide much needed investment to community organizations and we are pleased to see the priority given to Indigenous and Black communities, along with other equity-deserving groups who face disproportionate levels of food insecurity.

Financial help services for Canadians who have been hardest hit by the current affordability crisis are greatly needed. We are thrilled to see support for the critical work of Prosper Canada and their partners, which will expand community-delivered financial help services to low- to moderate-income Canadians. Along with increased automatic tax filing, enabling more people to access their benefit entitlements is a common-sense, impactful way to increase peoples’ ability to access the food they need.

Funding to support the implementation of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) is a first step towards long-awaited relief for people living with disabilities, but the amount proposed, a maximum of $200/month, falls well short of what is needed to lift people out of deep poverty.  Fifty percent of Canadians over 15 who are food insecure also cope with a disability and over 41% of people with income below the poverty line have a disability. Providing an adequately funded benefit is essential to enable people coping with additional challenges and expenses the ability to meet their basic needs and live with dignity. We will continue to work with the federal, provincial and territorial governments to build on this momentum and take further steps to reduce food insecurity in Canada. We urge governments to set a target to reduce food insecurity by 50% by 2030.