
Cities across Ontario have been sounding the alarm on food insecurity recently. Mississauga declared food insecurity an emergency in November 2024, Toronto in December 2024, and Kingston in early January. On January 27, 2025, Mayor Olivia Chow presented the new city budget, which reaffirmed the December declaration of food insecurity as an emergency in the city of Toronto.
The initial motion on food insecurity proposed asking the provincial and federal governments to increase the funding allocation for school food programs to ensure that every kid in the city has access to healthy food at school. The motion also proposes asking the provincial and federal governments to increase incomes by promoting living wages and workplace benefits, raising the rates of programs like Employment Insurance, Old Age Security (OAS), the Canada Child Benefit, Canada Disability Benefit, Ontario Works (OW), and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), and investing in the creation and maintenance of actually affordable housing. In the budget announcement, Mayor Chow also announced $25.2 million for school food programs in 2025. This $6 million increase from 2024 will support 21,500 more students.
This budget announcement is crucial for us at MFRC because it is a step towards recognizing the realities that Daily Bread Food Bank, Community Food Centres Canada, and local non-profits have been noticing and trying to respond to for years. Attaching this declaration to the budget announcement is also promising, as it indicates a greater commitment to action and to financing that action. This aligns well with the Poverty Reduction Strategy renewal that the city has been working on for the last year and the Food Charter update, recognizing everyone’s right to food.
We are committed to providing food supports in all our in-person programs. We are also committed to advocating for changes that will keep people from needing our food support, like increasing ODSP rates and improving access to affordable housing. Food insecurity affects people of all demographics- kids, young parents, seniors, and newcomers- all of whom deserve tangible action from people in power.
Even with this budget announcement, we will continue advocating for action on food insecurity. It is crucial that we keep this momentum going and establish a system that ensures everyone has access to healthy, culturally relevant foods.
You can join us in this continued advocacy:
- Provide feedback on Toronto’s Food Charter here
- Volunteer with Daily Bread Food Bank’s Scarborough research here
- Send your officials a letter advocating for change! Daily Bread’s Letter Community Food Centres Canada
Claire Perttula
Food Justice Projects Coordinator, MFRC