Food banks’ COVID experience validated federal aid but the crisis for Canada’s poor is worsening

As government support payments were phased out and the pandemic-driven burst of inflation took hold, the situation has grown steadily worse for the unemployed, low-income workers, and those on social assistance.

Government COVID aid policies in Canada provided key support for food banks struggling to meet the early challenges of the pandemic, but there are changes needed to try to fix this long-broken system, writes Les Whittington. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY LES WHITTINGTON

December 1, 2021

OTTAWA—When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, Canadians who try to care for the less-well-off were facing increased hardship and tragedy of incalculable dimensions. Millions of Canadians were suddenly without work, and reports from the U.S. showed “line-ups of cars—hundreds of them, bumper to bumpe...

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