Assessment of food banks | Montreal eaten away by hunger

At the same time as this annual Hunger Report is being submitted, a multidisciplinary group from the University of Montreal is publishing an exhaustive study on the subject which shows that young people are more vulnerable to this food insecurity and that they are more likely to cut back on groceries because they are struggling to make ends meet.

In both cases, the same observation: the rise in living costs, and particularly those linked to housing, is to blame.

“When we do the Hunger Check, we seek information from organizations,” recalls Chantal Vézina, general director of Moisson Montréal. They are the ones on the ground, on the front line. This year, it’s a [donnée] which is even more pronounced than other years [le coût élevé du logement]. It’s even more marked. »

The organization notes a 10% increase in requests for assistance in the last year and more than 50% since 2021.

This assistance comes in the form of emergency assistance of all kinds: a visit to a food bank, for example, or snacks distributed and meals served – nearly half a million meals are offered per month in Montreal and it is calculated that one in five people experience food insecurity in the metropolis. Another record.

“There are so many people who need help,” continues Chantal Vézina. We realize that more and more people are starting to deprive themselves or, when shopping, turn to much less nutritious foods. »

Overwhelmed by demand

As demands increase, some organizations must reduce the amount of food offered to each person. The report shows that this is the case for one in two organizations, but that one in three even has to refuse people for lack of resources.

People who are on the job market are increasingly present in banks – a phenomenon that emerged a few years ago. Almost one in five people who use food aid in Montreal have a job; more than two in five report social assistance as their main source of income.

The general director of Moisson Montréal confides that young people are part of the growing clientele. The organization has just received requests for help from vocational training schools, an unusual phenomenon.

“These are young adults or newly arrived people who learn a trade quickly,” she explains. These are vulnerable people, because they are precarious, at the end of their school career or in career change. »

Become an adult and be hungry

“We see that young people are increasingly resorting to food aid, and that’s because things are really not going well,” says Geneviève Mercille, assistant professor at the faculty of medicine at the University of Montreal.

A certain shame and a form of fatalism surround food insecurity among young people.

“It’s okay to eat Kraft Dinner when you’re a student,” adds Geneviève Mercille, who participated in a study conducted by a multidisciplinary group at the University of Montreal.

The researchers were interested in this buffer period between the end of adolescence and adulthood which comes with several new responsibilities. They worked with data from theLongitudinal study of child development in Quebec carried out by the Institute of Statistics of Quebec, which allows them to paint a portrait of this little-known reality.

We learn that 45% of young people have experienced at least one situation of food insecurity between the ages of 19 and 25. This can range from a temporary worry about not being able to eat adequately to not having enough to eat over a long period of time.

Between 2019 and 2023, the prevalence of food insecurity for 18-24 year olds increased from 12% to 23%, a more marked increase than that observed in the general population.

“This type of situation is likely to be on the rise, considering the housing crisis which strongly affects young adults and youth unemployment which is currently reaching the highest rates since the mid-1990s, excluding the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic”, notes the report released these days.

“A kind of wheel that turns”

Food insecurity “disproportionately” affects young adults who also experienced it in their childhood, those who no longer live with their parents and those whose educational and professional paths are atypical. We are talking here, for example, about having left school at 19 or being in CEGEP at 25.

These young people with atypical backgrounds are often in marginal situations, explains Véronique Dupéré, professor at the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal and holder of the Canada Research Chair on the transition to adulthood.

“It’s a kind of wheel that turns,” she says, “of accumulation of difficulties in different spheres of life. »

However, living with this additional stress, that of lacking access to food or fearing running out of it, leaves its mark, continues Véronique Dupéré.

“The feeling of fulfillment is weaker,” underlines the researcher. Continuing studies can become more complicated. »

A wheel that turns, she says.

“The transition period to adult life is seen as a pivotal period in life’s journey,” explains Véronique Dupéré. This is really where all the foundations are laid for everything else in adult life. »