Thread by @proofcanada

PROOF principal investigator, Dr. Valerie Tarasuk (@nutrisci_uoft @uoftmedicine) was on 📻 @770CHQR this morning to discuss food insecurity in Canada & the need to move to effective responses that address the root of the problem: inadequate income.
Here are the highlights:🧵(1/8)

📈 Do food bank statistics tell the whole story?

No, data on food insecurity repeatedly shows that only fraction of food-insecure Canadian use food charity. From a May 2020 StatsCan Survey, during the pandemic <10% of food insecure used any food charity in the past month (2/8)

💲 Food insecurity is not a food problem; it's just a symptom of a broader array of financial difficulties.

We identify food insecurity by asking about troubles affording food, but invariably they are also have trouble paying for basic needs like rent, prescriptions, etc. (3/8)

What do we need to do?

We must address the underlying problem — we have a substantial number of Canadians living without sufficient incomes for basic needs. That means tackling the inadequacy of income support programs, employment standards, and wages. (4/8)

What about the cost?

Food insecurity is already very costly.

"The toll that food insecurity is taking on our healthcare budgets is palpable, and it's preventable." (5/8)

There are programs in place now, like the Canada Child Benefit, that need to be made more adequate for low-income Canadians.

"The tools are already sitting on our toolbox; we just need to sharpen them." utoronto.ca/news/canada-ch… (6/8)

"We've tried. We've got 40 years of trying."

Food insecurity has persisted at high levels in Canada despite 40 years of food charity. It's time to move from emergency responses and charity to long-term policy solutions that prevent food insecurity. (7/8)

📻 Listen to the full interview at: globalnews.ca/pages/on-deman…. Select Nov 4 for the date and 7AM for the audio time. Interview starts at 08:48/59:59 (8/8)