Advocacy & Issues 10/25/2024 Link to full version on YouTube Good afternoon to the committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to present today. My name is Anthony Musiwa, and I am the Senior Policy Advisor in the Poverty Action Unit at Community Food Centres Canada. I’m joined by my colleague, Jasmine Ramze Rezaee, who is the Director of the Poverty Action Unit at Community Food Centres Canada. At Community Food Centres Canada, we support and strengthen the community food sector, collaborating with our six regional networks and more than 400 partners for progressive policy change. We envision a country where the right to food is realized for all, and where every community has a place for food that nurtures health, wellbeing, belonging, and social justice. Our head office is actually located in Ms. Dzerowicz's riding, and we really appreciate the support she has provided us over the years. As we gather this afternoon, it is crucial to acknowledge that we are facing a grave food insecurity crisis: Nearly 8.7 million people in our country are experiencing food insecurity. That’s one in four people compromising on the quantity or quality of food they eat, with some even going days without eating. This crisis has only worsened, with food insecurity rates increasing by 26% in 2023 compared to the previous year. Our partners on the frontlines share alarming insights into the stress faced by the millions of Canadians who cannot afford adequate, nourishing food. For example, in 2023, The Depot Community Food Centre in Montreal distributed approximately 20,000 food baskets—double the number from the year prior. They’ve had to turn people away from their food access programs and reduce the number of program days for the first time ever. This challenging situation is playing out across the country. Indigenous and racialized peoples, people living with disabilities, single adults, single-parent female households, newcomers, and trans people experience food insecurity rates two to three times higher than the national average. As food prices and the cost of living continue to rise while incomes remain stagnant, this crisis will only worsen. We need comprehensive, sustained, and accountable government action. Governments have been off-loading their responsibility to food banks, but food banks and emergency food programs are merely band-aid solutions to a much deeper problem. Food insecurity is fundamentally an income problem. In our recent 2025 pre-budget submission, we emphasized the urgent need for a budget that addresses the root cause of food insecurity—inadequate incomes—so that everyone can afford to meet their basic needs. We propose evidence-based policy options to increase household incomes and ensure all Canadians can afford adequate, nourishing food. We recommend creating a dignified income support program for people aged 18 to 64 living in households facing food insecurity and poverty. This can be done in two complementary ways: one is by transforming the existing GST/HST credit into a Groceries and Essentials Benefit that provides $150 per month per adult on low or modest incomes and $50 per child, helping to offset the rising cost of groceries and necessities. Another approach is to transform the Canada Workers Benefit into an enhanced tax credit—a Canada Working-Age Supplement. This could be achieved by removing the employment earnings requirement and increasing the benefit amount, ensuring that adults on low and fixed incomes can afford their basic needs. We also recommend creating a more equitable and fair Canada Disability Benefit. While the Canada Disability Benefit is a step in the right direction, the proposed regulations are inadequate to lift most people with disabilities out of poverty and food insecurity. We urge the government to: raise the income threshold for eligibility above the poverty line, accounting for the additional costs of living with a disability. increase the benefit amount, as a $200 per month benefit is grossly insufficient. broaden eligibility beyond the Disability Tax Credit, which is already difficult for people with disabilities to access. Lastly, we call on you to set a target of reducing food insecurity by 50% and eradicating severe food insecurity by 2030. Establishing a clear target will drive focus, accountability, and action. Success on this front will enable the development of an integrated approach across government, the private sector, and civil society. Food is a basic human right, and it is the government’s profound responsibility to ensure that everyone can live with dignity. Canada is such an affluent nation—we can and must do better. The decisions you make in the 2025 Budget will determine whether we move toward a future where everyone in Canada, regardless of their circumstances, can live with dignity and security—or not. Thank you once again for the opportunity to share our ideas before this committee. My colleague Jasmine and I welcome any questions and the chance to discuss these critical issues further.