Webinar — Food banks and Canada’s social safety net
Food banks play an important role in supporting people living in poverty, but little is known about the characteristics of food-bank clients or how food-bank use is affected by government income supports. Who uses food banks and how often? How do food-bank users compare with the broader low-income population?
Canadian research has been unable to answer these questions due to a lack of data. In 2014, McMaster University and Hamilton Food Share – a network of major food banks in Hamilton, Ontario – joined forces to remedy this situation and improve the quality of food-bank data available to researchers, food-bank administrators and users, government decision-makers and not-for-profits.
On December 13 2021, we held a panel discussion on the preliminary research findings on food bank usage in Hamilton, the implications for government policy and the major issues facing local food banks in Canada. Our guests were Martin Dooley, professor emeritus at McMaster University; Joanne Santucci, CEO of Hamilton Food Share; Richard Matern, research director at Food Banks Canada; Laurie O’Connor, executive director of the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre and Vishnal Khanna, Co-Founder of Sai Dham Food Bank.
Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, McMaster University
Martin is a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Economics at McMaster University. Martin’s research centred on the socioeconomic determinants of the education and health of Canadian children and youth.
Richard Matern is the Director of Research at Food Banks Canada. His past work includes leading large scale community-based research projects, which helped to inform the income security review process in Ontario.
Joanne Santucci is the founder and CEO of Hamilton Food Share in Hamilton Ontario, and a leader in the fight to eradicate hunger and poverty for more than 32 years.
Joanne worked with the federal government to create the first intake software utilized at a food bank to collect basic statistical data from food bank service users. This intake program has transitioned into the current, exponentially more robust data collection system now used at food banks across Canada through the Link2Feed food bank software. This data collection has allowed Hamilton Food Share to perform its own research and partner with other organizations to perform community-based research that facilitates evidence-based data to support policy change and other forms of client advocacy.
Joanne is known throughout the city as an ambassador for people experiencing poverty and has committed her career to working towards a hunger-free community.
Vishal Khanna co-founded the Sai Dham Food Bank with his spiritual sister Subhra Mukherjee in 2012, after learning of the alarming rate of poverty in Peel Region, the area of southern Ontario where they settled after emigrating from India. At Sai Dahm, which operates 7 days a week and has phone lines open 24 hours a day, Khanna works with a team of over 100 volunteers who make deliveries to approximately 265 seniors and people living with disabilities in the Greater Toronto Area.
Executive Director, Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre
Laurie O’Connor has been the Executive Director at the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre since 2011. The Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre is a progressive and collaborative organization that uses a systems approach to develop programs, services, and initiatives that address the underlying causes of food insecurity and poverty in Saskatoon.
Colin Busby is a research director at the IRPP. Prior to this, he was the associate director of research at the C.D. Howe Institute. He has also worked at Industry Canada and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. While he writes broadly on economic issues, his emphasis is on fiscal and social policy.
