As food insecurity grips North Etobicoke, empty fridges are a silent reminder of a deepening crisis in a neighbourhood where access to fresh and affordable groceries is anything but guaranteed.

With the cost of living rising across the country, many Canadians struggle to feed themselves and their families.

However, some communities are more deeply affected by food insecurity than others.

In 2023, Etobicoke saw the largest increase in food bank usage of all Toronto boroughs, rising 66 per cent from the previous year.

Located in the borough is the community of North Etobicoke — home to families, immigrants and large number of students; many of whom are going hungry as rates of food insecurity continue to rise.

Of the almost 325,000 food bank visits in Etobicoke in 2023, just under two-thirds were attributed to food banks within this community.

The number of food bank visitors in the borough only continues to rise, with around 345,000 visits to Etobicoke food banks last year.

The Sai Dham Food Bank, located in Rexdale, is just one of the few food banks helping to keep the community afloat. They provide food and supplies to those in need, including senior citizens, school-aged children and low-income families.

Over the years, Director and co-founder Vishal Khanna, has seen the number of visitors grow to over 70,000 last year, rising from 30,000 in 2023.

There are many factors that contribute to food insecurity, but the main factor driving food insecurity is financial constraints. In 2023, according to the North York Harvest Food Bank, just under one quarter of North Etobicoke residents were considered low-income after tax, making them more susceptible to food insecurity than other neighbourhoods.

Additionally, North Etobicoke, especially neighbourhoods like Rexdale, is home to many immigrants; a demographic facing disproportionate levels of financial insecurity.

In fact, the 2021 Census reports that over half of the North Etobicoke neighbourhood are immigrants, making up 56.2 per cent of the population.

In April, a Statistics Canada report found that just under half of recent immigrants reported it difficult to very difficult to meet their financial needs, including purchasing food. This can be seen in recent food bank stats, with new immigrants making up four out of five new food bank users.

Mohammad Mohsen, who volunteers at a North Etobicoke food bank, has seen this firsthand.

“We definitely see a lot of immigrants [at the food bank], because of the region specifically,” says Mohsen.

North Etobicoke is also home to many students, another group at high risk of financial and food insecurity, as it encapsulates Humber Polytechnic’s North Campus and the University of Guelph-Humber and the many students living on campus or in nearby housing.

In 2023, almost roughly 30 per cent of Canadian students experienced food insecurity, a number higher than the national average of Canadians.

Rexdale resident Kyle Anderson is a Humber student who found himself relying on a food bank for the first time in his life.

“I was in school. I’m unemployed and didn’t have any money. Financially, I was like, drained. So, I didn’t have the money to buy food, so I went to the food bank to get food to eat for the week,” said Anderson.

With rising food prices and expensive grocery chains like Fortinos, many residents are forced to choose between purchasing food and paying for other essentials.

Not only are groceries expensive, but there is a lack of fresh produce in stores.

North York Harvest’s Food Friendly Neighbourhood Plan gave North Etobicoke a grade of ‘F’ when it comes to produce markets, citing a major lack of accessibility to fresh produce in the neighbourhood.

Some food banks, like Sai Dham, are striving to provide visitors with fresh produce instead of solely shelf-stable cans and boxes, stressing the importance of fresh food for health.

Khanna points out that it only makes sense to focus on providing people with healthy foods, because healthy meals mean healthier residents, leaving a direct impact on costs to the health-care system.

“You need to nurture those seeds with the right kind of a nutrients to have a healthy community, or healthy Canadians, tomorrow,” says Khanna.

However, many independent food banks, which are prevalent in North Etobicoke, face severe financial strains, impacting their ability to help communities.

These food banks, like Sai Dham, do not receive government funding and often struggle to receive recurring donations, on top of having to source all food themselves.

“We actually came down, just few weeks back, from the [possibility] that we may shut down. We cannot run it because we have no money at all, even to pay us the basic salary,” said Khanna.

Without government or private support, the food banks serving our community must run off slim margins, making it hard to hire staff, instead relying on volunteers, who can be “notoriously difficult” to find and keep, says Mohsen.

*Photo, Joel Muniz, Unsplash Creative Commons License