What We Get Wrong When We Think About Food Insecurity

i

am an incredibly

lucky person

i grew up in a stable home

i didn’t have to worry about whether or

not there would be food in the fridge

or if my parents would be able to pay

the bills

i grew up isolated from food insecurity

but i thought i understood what it was

like many of us then my first

understandings of food insecurity came

from interacting with food charities and

food banks

my parents would bundle my siblings and

i into the car

and we would go downtown to pack boxes

at the food bank or serve meals at the

soup kitchen

i remember looking around those spaces

and recognizing that

a lot of the folks who were accessing

these services looked like me

and my siblings most were not white

at school and at church we would run

food drives during the holidays and we

were told

that this was how to ensure that folks

who didn’t have enough food

got enough to eat when it came to the

issue of food insecurity

the solution was more food banks and

more food drives and more soup kitchens

but this message is wrong

although these services do provide

important supports

to families who need emergency food

they do not solve the long-term problem

of food insecurity

since then i have learned that the

issue the roots of food insecurity are

buried much

deeper and that we can’t talk about food

insecurity in canada

without also talking about poverty and

racism

food insecurity is defined as inadequate

or insufficient access to food

due to financial constraints

the thing that you need to remember

about this definition is

that the root of food insecurity is a

lack

of access to money

for folks who are food insecure this can

mean having to make some incredibly

difficult choices like choosing between

the

food medicine or household goods that

they need for themselves and their

families

and paying rent at the end of the month

this also means that if we can find a

solution to food insecurity

that puts enough money in people’s

pockets

alongside a robust universally

accessible network of social programs

we’ll be well on our way to finding a

solution to food insecurity

and a whole host of other social

problems

racism also impacts food insecurity in

canada

food insecurity exists for the same

reasons that

poverty exists and poverty does not

impact everyone equally they both

trace their roots to systems of

oppression that work

together to determine who experiences

the most food insecurity

and who gets to be at the table in

conversations about the solutions to

food insecurity

examining this problem and its solutions

is part of what’s called food justice

work and this is work that i’m involved

in

alongside an organization called

foodshare toronto

it is difficult work that requires that

we go a lot further in addressing food

insecurity

than opening up a few more food banks

it is work that seeks justice and food

security

for everyone fuchsia toronto

runs community-led food access

programming

across the city of toronto these

programs are designed

to be universal so that anyone who needs

to can access

but we also recognize that certain

communities

like the black and indigenous community

for example face greater

barriers than others for example

in our good food program which sells

affordable fruits and vegetables

across the city we have always noticed

that there were

a greater number of non-white folks

accessing the program

turns out it’s not just because we have

the best prices

on okra and kalalu

we recognize that systemic racism

is one of the factors that holds food

insecurity in place but we in the

communities that we work alongside

have often lacked the race-based data to

reinforce these observations

to address this issue in 2019

foodshare partnered with the proof food

insecurity

research team at the university of

toronto to

engage in one of the first ever studies

of

canada community health survey data

looking

specifically through the lens of race

the question that drove this study was

how

do black and white households differ in

their risk

of food insecurity

the results of the study matched what

community leaders in the black community

had been saying

for decades and already knew

when the study looked at food insecurity

and compared between black and white

households in canada it found that

10 percent of white households are food

insecure

compared with 28

of black households the study also found

that black households are

3.5 times more likely to be food

insecure than white households

the study also looked at household

composition

and found that for white households if

you

own your home or if you live in a

two-parent household

then you are less likely to be food

insecure than if you rent your home

or live in a single-parent household but

if you are black the risk of food

insecurity remains

significantly higher regardless of

whether you rent or own your home

and regardless of your household

composition

these results suggest that the increased

food insecurity

found within the black community in

canada is at least

in part due to the additional barriers

that these households face

because they are black

this demonstrates the impact of

structural racism and anti-black

racism in canada and how it makes it

more difficult for black folks to access

wealth leaving us at greater risk

of food insecurity

structural racism is a form of racism

that is embedded as a normalized

practice in a society

or institution and it’s best understood

through examples of how

it works structural racism

in the education system makes it less

likely for non-white folks to graduate

from high school or be accepted into

post-secondary institutions

structural racism in the hiring process

makes it less likely for non-white folks

to be hired to well-paying

stable positions structural racism in

the financial sector

makes it less likely for non-white folks

to be

approved for a loan if they need one

if somebody belongs to a community that

is

less likely to be able to succeed in the

education system

is less likely to be able to access a

well-paying stable job

and is less likely to be approved for a

loan

when they need one that person is almost

certainly going to be at greater risk of

food

insecurity that is what we are seeing

in these statistics

so how does that impact how we think

about the solutions to this problem

if we accept that food insecurity is

linked to poverty and that poverty is

linked to structural racism

then we must change how individuals

organizations and institutions think

about the solutions to this problem

if the problem is actually about money

then the solutions

must also be about money and how to get

more of it into the pockets of people

who need it

the government likes to frame food

charities and food banks as an effective

way to respond

to food insecurity as somebody who works

for a charitable food organization

myself

i will be the first to tell you that we

are never

going to be able to solve this problem

we

already struggle to access the resources

that we need

and the scale and scope of problems like

food insecurity

are well beyond the ability of any

organization to be able to solve

in fact it is the government that bears

responsibility

to uphold this commitment

in 1976 the canadian government signed

on to what’s called the international

covenant

on economic social and cultural rights

this document contained a commitment by

the government to create the conditions

under which everyone in canada could

feed themselves

and their communities with dignity today

and

into the future but when we look around

today

we can immediately see that the

government has not upheld this

commitment

especially in communities

disproportionately impacted by food

insecurity

in framing food banks and food charities

as an effective solution to this problem

the government is running away from its

commitment to uphold the right to food

and we should not accept

this response all of us

in canada our friends our parents

our neighbors we all have the right to

hold our elected officials responsible

to this commitment

anyone can pick up the phone and call

their local representative

to demand that they do more to address

issues of food insecurity

and to push other elected

representatives to do the same

this sort of public advocacy work is

so powerful because only the government

has the power and the resources to do

things like

increase minimum wages or implement

a universal pharmacare program or a

universal basic housing guarantee

alongside perhaps a universal basic

income

the sorts of systemic changes

that will actually address problems like

food insecurity

but what can organizations do to address

this issue in addition to advocating to

government

well for organizations to address the

increased food insecurity

that has been identified in the black

community and that almost

certainly exists in other racialized

communities as well

we must address structural

racism structural racism

leads to greater poverty in the black

community

which leads to greater food insecurity

in the black community

therefore any work that addresses

and dismantles structural racism is also

working towards

increased food insecurity food security

for communities disproportionately

impacted

by these systems

as civil rights leaders have been saying

for decades one key solution

to this challenge is to hire more

black people to stable

well-paid positions of decision making

power within organizations

these positions should not be contract

or temporary and they should include

things like

paid sick leave and health benefits

these sorts of positions are so powerful

because they ensure a steady stream of

long-term

income into a household and provide the

sort of long-term

financial stability that low-paying or

contract work

simply cannot provide

these are the sorts of positions that

actually protect households against food

insecurity

but as a result of structural racism

these positions are currently less

likely to go

to black people

for organizations to address this

challenge it’s going to require many of

them to undergo

a substantial change in the way they

operate and i can give you a few

examples of what this might look like

organizations first can begin to collect

and use race-based data to understand

where within their staff and boards of

directors

diversity gaps may currently lie

organizations can also do things like

increasing wages

especially for their lowest paid

positions

and establish wage ratios that limit the

difference between the lowest paid

and highest paid staff members in the

organization

organizations can also reduce reliance

on paid

credentials for their job openings in

recognition of the fact that many

institutions discriminate

in their recruitment process and the

fact that many qualified applicants

simply can’t afford to access these

credentials

organizations can also work

with grassroots community organization

working

alongside communities that face

disproportionate barriers to accessing

the money they need for food

to ensure that calls for job applicants

get reach a wider diversity

of candidates alongside

all of this organizations must continue

to collect

race-based data in order to gauge the

impact of these interventions all of

these suggestions

are designed to reduce the barriers for

black

indigenous and other racialized folks in

navigating

the hiring process

in doing food justice work i have come

to understand that the solutions to food

insecurity

have much less to do with food and

much more to do with dismantling systems

of oppression

like structural racism

we must also remember that any solutions

to food insecurity

must be income based and

be implemented alongside a universal

joined up network of robust social

programs because with enough money in

people’s pockets

and a social safety net that actually

works for everyone

we’ll be in a position to end food

insecurity

and poverty regardless of what community

you come from

we must also remember that it is the

government

that bears the responsibility for making

this happen

but that we as individuals have the

power

and the responsibility to hold our

elected officials accountable to these

commitments

don’t be afraid to call your local

representative

you could do that right after watching

this talk

if they start talking to you about food

banks

or meal programs you can remind them

that these are not the solutions

that are going to eradicate this problem

in the long term

ultimately the solutions are

frustratingly

simple people need to be able to

access the money they need for food

we must get our elected representatives

to understand that the solutions to food

insecurity

must be income based

we must also address the fact that

minority communities

like the black community currently face

greater barriers

due to structural racism

we must get more

black indigenous and other racialized

folks

into stable well-paying positions of

decision-making

power within organizations and we must

all remember that we cannot talk about

food insecurity

without also talking about poverty and

structural

racism if we can manage

to do all of this then perhaps

we’ll be in a position to imagine a

future

in which everyone in canada can feed

themselves

their families and their communities

with dignity

and where food insecurity is a distant

memory

thank you

you