More can be done to tackle ‘abhorrent’ food bank usage rate: Daily Bread CEO

Politicians at all levels grappling with cost-of-living crisis

Published Jun 21, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Daily Bread Food Bank CEO Neil Hetherington at the Etobicoke facility in Toronto on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk /Toronto Sun

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With the municipal election just months away, voters can ask a “very simple question” with food insecurity increasingly in the spotlight. 

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“You can ask, ‘I heard one in 10 Torontonians have to use the food bank. What are you going to do to make sure that food bank usage starts to decrease in our city?’” Daily Bread Food Bank CEO Neil Hetherington said Wednesday in an interview. “It’s that simple. 

“One in 10. That’s abhorrent and we need to change that.” 

Hetherington’s comments came as politicians at all levels continue to grapple with the cost-of-living crisis, which has led to food security policies cropping up in recent months. 

City of Toronto, feds announce measures

In March, the City of Toronto announced that it was going ahead with a pilot project that would put four not-for-profit, city-run grocery stores in neighbourhoods with lower average household incomes and limited access to full-service businesses. 

That was followed about two months later by the federal government’s National Food Security Strategy, which is expected to invest $3 billion over 10 years into new and expanded food terminals and hubs to support independent businesses, boost domestic food production and cut red tape for the agricultural sector. 

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A common thread with both ideas: Trying to make food more affordable for consumers. 

Some observers have lauded the federal initiative for addressing issues that have been ignored, although Agri-Food Analytics Lab director Sylvain Charlebois has also criticized it for lacking a “clear vision, measurable objectives and a long-term commitment.” 

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Lineups unlikely to decrease: Hetherington

For his part, Hetherington said the strategy, which also aims to boost the production of fruits and vegetables year-round and make Canada less dependent on countries like the United States, is a “very necessary exercise in making sure that we are a sovereign state when it comes to food. 

But he also said the initiative won’t necessarily shorten food bank lineups. 

“What will occur, though, from this investment is that from a food security perspective, from a national security perspective, we will grow our food,” he said. “We will be less dependent on the international fluctuations that occur because we are investing in things like food terminals; we’re trying our best to increase competition in grocery stores.  

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“So these are the things that are important from a food sovereignty perspective.” 

As for the city’s grocery store pilot, Hetherington believes they will have a difficult time competing with the private sector without “mass subsidies” and the issue will boil down to “what is the level of subsidy that the city wants and for who.”

Government of ‘all levels’ can help

In the end, though, he said food insecurity is a symptom of income disparity, so tackling the city’s historic food bank usage – a record 4,124,313 visits were recorded last year at Toronto food banks, a more than three-fold increase since the start of the pandemic – means tweaks to things like the National Housing Strategy, disability benefits and inflation. 

“Those are the root causes and, you know, there’s ways for all levels of government to participate in solving them,” he said. 

At the municipal level, voters will get a chance to hear what Toronto’s mayoral candidates plan to do about the issue on Aug. 24, when Daily Bread hosts the city’s first mayoral debate. 

“It’s critical that each of the candidates comes to the plate and talks about what is the city’s role in poverty alleviation, how can they negotiate with the province, how can they work with the feds in order to make sure that … what we have currently, with one in 10 Torontonians using the Daily Bread Food Bank, how do we see that reversed,” Hetherington said. 

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