Re-Examination of Food Security and Availability Urged

CANADA - The executive director of the Food Banks of Saskatchewan is calling on governments to re-examine the matter of food security, food availability and the cost of food, writes Bruce Cochrane.
calendar icon 10 June 2008
clock icon 3 minute read

Last week, in observance of National Hunger Awareness Day June 5, the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre unveiled a Wall of Hunger as a visual demonstration of the estimated 11 hundred people who go hungry in the region each month.

National Hunger Awareness Day is an observance designed to draw attention to hunger in Canada.

Food Banks of Saskatchewan executive director Bill Hall notes world leaders are now recognizing and attempting to address the crisis of food and food availability and the one billion people at risk of hunger across the world.

Bill Hall-Food Banks of Saskatchewan

Although it's a global problem certainly it has its impact here in Canada also.

I think one of the things that we have to worry about is the price of fuel and fertilizer.

Certainly around the globe I think we've seen news reports where certain countries are now shutting off exports of their food.

They're hoarding it for themselves because of this danger of losing supply and those countries who depend on food imports can no longer afford them.

I think what we're going to see here in Canada is something similar amongst those people who have very limited resources to acquire food.

As food transportation costs go up, food prices will go up in the stores and they're going to have to look at their food budget and decide to maybe buy less quality food and perhaps less food so it's a great concern for us.


Hall believes it's time for governments to re-examine the whole issue of food security and the idea that food is a human right, that people deserve to have quality food at an affordable price that they can feed their families.

He says for awhile numbers were going down but, with increased rents, fuel costs and food prices in stores, there is a concern that if this trend continues there will be more people coming to food banks.

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