Food Insecurity In Canada

“We cant close the gap on health unless we talk about nutrition”. The issue of food security can have a negative impact on the wellbeing of individuals and families in Australia, there are a number of different groups who are more vulnerable to food insecurity than others, due to social whereabouts. Food insecurities is defined as “ access by all people at all times to enough food for an active healthy life” by saying this Australia has been shown as food secure but this has people asking “why are certain groups and cultures running out of food to feed there families through out the year, if we are food secure?’ about 5% of Australians suffer from food insecurities this is usually caused by the access they have to food or the inadequate food

Canada is a ‘high-income nation’, possessing industrialized economies, technologically advanced industries, and high per capita income (Kendall et al. 2016: 24). Resulting in Canada much receiving international scrutiny as it has a vast number of individuals living in relative poverty (Kendall et al. 2016: 29). Particularly as many as five million, or one in seven people live in relative poverty in Canada (Kendall et al. 2016: 29). Constituting relative poverty is living below the standard of living relative to the average individual in Canada (Levine-Rasky 2017). In addition, income inequality acts as a social determinant of health (SDH), as it impacts the economic and social conditions of an individual or a community (Raphael 2016:

In particular, this paper explores the concept of food insecurity among the Canadian Aboriginal community. It discusses the barriers and healthy consequences of food insecurity and proposes community health nursing strategies to promote food security. Essentially, this paper discusses the barriers of food insecurity and its physical, mental, and social effects (i.e, obesity, depression, and stigma) within the aboriginal community).

Poverty is a serious issue in Canada needs to be addressed promptly. Poverty is not simply about the lack of money an individual has; it is much more than that. The World Bank Organization defines poverty by stating that, “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time”. In Canada, 14.9 percent of Canada’s population has low income as Statistics Canada reports, which is roughly about two million of Canadians in poverty or on the verge of poverty. In addition, according to an UNICEF survey, 13.3 percent of Canadian children live in

According to WHO, food security is defined as existing 'when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life' (WHO, 2015). Low income jobs and unemployment leads to food insecurity. On a larger Canadian scale, a study was done in 2006 to observe if households earning minimum wage in Nova Scotia can afford a nutrient rich diet. They found that people earning minimum wage do not meet basic needs, i.e. a nutrient rich diet. Wage increases and supplements, along with supports for expenses such as childcare and transportation were indicated to address the issue of meeting the basic needs (Williams, 2006) In order to combat food insecurity in Toronto, policy action needs to be started to preserve the land's ability to produce food. Another way to combat food desserts and food insecurity is to welcome the idea of globalization. Globalization, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the act of globalizing; the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets (Merriam-Webster, 2015) welcomes the opportunities for new and often times higher paying jobs, as well as the transport of goods and technology across the countries. However, there are setbacks when it comes to globalization. Smaller, less

In 2010, 17 million US households were food insecure. Of those households, approximately 5% reported very low food security (Coleman-Jensen, et. al., 2011). 21% of surveyed students in Hawaii were food insecure, while 15% had low food security and 6% had very low food security (Chaparro, et al., 2009). Oregon State University conducted its own study, which revealed 59% of students surveyed were food insecure at some point in 2013 (Patton-Lopez, 2014). Additionally, a study conducted at two community

Acquiring life’s necessities for many Canadians is as simple as going to the grocery store. For most Northern Aboriginal Canadian communities, who face overwhelmingly high food prices this is not the case. The inability to engage in healthy eating practices for both financial and availability reasons is hypothesized to have contributed to the higher incidence of diet related diseases among this demographic. With food insecurity on the rise, policy reform is essential. Reform must consider both traditional and market foods, as well as minimize all current barriers to food attainment. Urgency is required for a sustainable solution to this problem.

Food insecurity is a major issue in Canada, affecting millions people across the country especially minorities. In 2012, four million Canadians experienced some form of food insecurity (Tarasuk, Mitchell, & Dachner, 2014). This paper aims to focus on how food insecurity affects women and children, and the costs associated with it. The results of food insecurity can be serious mental, and physical health problems for women and children. It shall demonstrate the need for government intervention, job security, prices of food, and public policies to protect low income families. This topic was chosen as it is an issue which often gets overlooked by many middle and upper class Canadians. Often times when people think of starvation, they picture children in Sub-Saharan Africa. The reality is that women and children in Canadian communities are affected by food insecurity daily. Action needs to be taken immediately in order for food insecurity to be fully eradicated, and justice to be achieved.

First and foremost, lack of indigenous food security is based on their economic poverty because of their isolated location, high shipping costs and the health impact that comes from this isolation and low income. Kangiqsujuaq is an isolated community in the northern most part of Quebec. The community is predominately indigenous people. In a questionnaire given to the inhabitants of this area, it was found that due to their economic status the residents were reducing their food consumption every month because of high cost and low income (Brown et al., 2012). Because of these findings, it was concluded that their food insecurity was chronic rather than temporary, and this is consistent with poverty related to unemployment and under-employment,

Poverty has been known to affect certain groups harder than others; people who are more at-risk of being struck by poverty include people with disabilities, children, aboriginal people, single parents, and new Canadians. Poverty is not known to have one single cause, instead it is a complex mix of causes based on each individual case. It can be the result of the social assistance programs that families and individuals are forced to rely on as a mean of support, perhaps cultural barriers stand in the way, or perhaps education, whatever the reason it is a difficult cycle to break. There is a relationship between poverty and poor health, lower productivity, lower educational attainment, and children’s future outcomes. According to Maxwell (2009), Micro data from the National Population Health Survey found that 73% of Canadians with the highest incomes have reported their health as excellent, while 47% of Canadians with the lowest rated their overall health as

Food insecurity is an issue seeing growth in Ontario which has an impact on thousands of people annually. It is defined as when an individual does not have adequate or sufficient access to healthy, nutritious food which prevents him or her from maintaining a healthy and active life.Some causes of food insecurity includes low income or unemployment, location, gender, race, physical or mental illness or disabilities and more. From the research I have done, nearly 10 percent of all Ontarians have suffered from food insecurity at least one in his or her life. As we learnt in class,  few programs effective with the creation of a solution for the problem such as Northern Food Canada. Though benefits of Northern Food Canada exist, there were flaws

There is an ongoing struggle to ensure that First Nations in northern Ontario have food security. Food security exists when people have consistent physical and economical access to sufficient, safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food that meets their dietary needs for a healthy life (Socha et al., 1). Members of the First Nations Community in the north indicate that their children are eating unhealthy food like chips and pop because they cannot afford the basic healthy necessities (Stefanovich, 1). According to the Chiefs of Ontario and the First Nations Information Governance Centre, 48% of First Nations adults living on-reserve experience severe or moderate food insecurity (Chiefs of Ontario, 46). Food insecurity leads to generally

CBC News reported an article stating that the average annual salary for half the Aboriginal population was near $20,000 whereas annual food costs for a year is just above $19,000. Queen’s Native Student Association illustrates the cost of certain food items in northern Indigenous communities in Canada such as the following items; a 24 water bottle pack of $105, a $35 bag of flour, and peppers costing over $17. These prices are caused by some of the geographical positions of certain communities such as Nunavut, as it is very expensive to transport. With these numbers, it is an obvious reason why food is unaffordable and people cannot provide meat for their large families and themselves as individuals. As a result, 64% of Food Bank users are Indigenous persons (CFTC 2014), a large portion of them being children. Over half of the users are Indigenous even though they only account for 4% of Canada’s total population. As shown by Amber Hildebrandt on CBC, children suffer the most from hunger; around 70% feel that food insecurity is a very big part of their lives (Nunavut Inuit Child Survey, 2007-08). In present day Canada, CBC News reported that there are now more than half of the First Nation children officially living in poverty. Governments could provide more services and programs that would diminish these shocking

Food Insecurity is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life, and at a minimum includes the following: the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods and the assured ability to acquire personally acceptable foods in a socially acceptable way, qualified by their involuntariness and periodicity. Even though food insecurity affects everyone in the household, it may also affect them differently. Food insecurity mostly exists whenever food security is limited. Uncertain or limited availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods results chronic diseases psychological, and suicidal syndrome (Cook & Frank, 2008)

One of most common problems in the world is food insecurity. It is not only happening in the third world countries, but it is also happening in the richest country in world, the USA. Food insecurity occurs when a family does not have enough food for all family members. The USDA confirms that 12.7 percent of U.S households are suffering from food insecurity. Food insecurity can be of two kinds: low food insecurity and very low food insecurity. In low insecurity households, family members just eat enough calories for their body, but their food is not nutritious. Low food insecurity makes up 7.4 percent of 12.7 of food insecurity households in the U.S, (USDA). The other type is very low food insecurity. The family members do not have enough food at specific times in the year because they lack money. This type makes up 4.9 percent out of 12.7 percent in the food insecurity, (USDA). Food insecurity most often happens in the households with children, especially households with children headed by a single man or a single woman. The USDA estimates that households with children headed by single woman have 31.6 percent chance of experiencing low food insecurity, and households with children headed by a single man have 21.7 percent chance for low food insecurity. The South has highest rate of food insecurity with 13.5 percent. The rate of food insecurity in the Northeast (10.8 percent) is lower than Midwest (12.2 percent). The rate of food insecurity according to states in the three