The federal Agriculture Department is warning that food affordability has become "a critical issue" for Canadians as grocery prices continue rising faster than the overall inflation rate and millions struggle to put food on the table.Blacklock's Reporter says an internal briefing note prepared June 22 says food prices had exceeded the general inflation rate for 21 consecutive months, a trend that has continued with the latest figures released by Statistics Canada.According to the Consumer Price Index for June, grocery prices increased 3.9% compared with a year earlier, while the overall inflation rate stood at 2.8%."Affordability remains a critical issue for Canadians with food prices rising faster than overall inflation for the 21st consecutive month," the Agriculture Department wrote in its briefing note, Food Prices And Food Security.The department also pointed to growing food insecurity across the country, estimating that 25.5% of Canadians — roughly 10 million people — now live in households that struggle to afford enough food. The figure is based on data from the Canadian Income Survey.Officials acknowledged that food bank use is no longer confined primarily to unemployed Canadians."About 40% of households using food banks rely on social assistance as their main source of income," the briefing note states. "However the share of households who rely on employment income has risen since the pandemic."The memo follows testimony before the House of Commons finance committee highlighting record demand at Toronto-area food banks.Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank, told MPs that visits to Toronto food banks reached 4.1 million last year, with one in 10 Toronto residents now relying on food assistance."For context, it took us 28 years to get to 1,000,000 visits, two years to get to 2,000,000 visits, one year to get to 3,000,000 visits and here we are now at 4,100,000 visits," Hetherington said.He described the figures as "staggering.".Daily Bread distributes food through a network of 214 food banks and community programs across the Greater Toronto Area.Questioned by Conservative MP Connie Cody about changing demographics among food bank users, Hetherington said one trend stood out."The one I think is most alarming is that the highest growth rate right now is individuals between 19 and 44," he said.Hetherington added that 60% of people in that age group seeking food assistance have post-secondary education, while half are employed full-time."They've done everything right. They went to school, they got a job," he told MPs.Food Banks Canada has also warned that younger Canadians are increasingly struggling with food insecurity.In a 2025 submission to the House of Commons human resources committee, the organization reported that 28% of young adults had skipped meals because they could not afford food, while 20% had relied on free meals or groceries from community organizations — nearly double the rate reported among the general population.The organization said those figures point to growing financial pressure on younger Canadians despite employment and education.
