Projected grocery price increase worrisome for Saskatoon Food Bank

The Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre is already dealing with a strain on its resources, and an expected price jump for groceries in 2025 is unwelcome, says executive director Laurie O’Connor.

O’Connor said the number of people the food bank is servicing has jumped around 25 per cent from October 2023 to October 2024.

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• Food banks in Regina, Saskatoon get million-dollar boost from K+S

Research from Dalhousie University, the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Guelph and the University of British Columbia predicts that food prices will increase between three and five per cent next year.

“That’s bad news for sure, I think, for folks who are struggling,” O’Connor said.

“I don’t see anywhere an increase in folks’ wages or income assistance that would meet that rise in the cost of food. I don’t think we’ll see much relief in the cost of housing here in the city, or in the province, and so we definitely worry.”

O’Connor said the cost of food is something constantly on their radar, and although food bank staff plan for it, they can not impact it directly and often look to different levels of government for support.

O’Connor said another 25 per cent increase in demand at Saskatoon Food Bank would be a very “big strain” on the organization.

“We’ve definitely noticed a strain, both on food resources and on human resources as well,” she said.

“As you can imagine, it’s a difficult job to serve the public when they’re in distress and so  we’ve been doing lots of things to increase morale around the organization to make sure that our staff feel valued in the work that they do.”

“December, for many charities, is the main holiday fundraising season. It’s the same thing here, and we’re so pleased with the level of support that we receive from our community.”

The Government of Canada recently announced a two-month GST pause.

Regina Foodbank CEO John Bailey called it a positive measure, but said he didn’t anticipate it lowering the amount of people facing food insecurity.

O’Connor agrees.

“I think both temporary and long-term measures are needed so that folks feel some relief, but I don’t think that will impact people’s long-term outlook,” she said.

“It’ll save them some money over a couple of months but it won’t impact their long-term issues moving into 2025.”

O’Connor laid the blame on Saskatchewan’s $15 minimum wage, which is tied with Alberta for the lowest in the country, as well as low social assistance rates not keeping up with with the Canada’s poverty line.

“I think those things are both really important and impact people’s food security,” O’Connor said.

“If folks don’t have enough money to buy food for their families, they’re going to be skipping meals, they’re going to be missing meals over the course of any week, and so I think we need to think about income measures.”

Read more:

• Monthly food bank use soars to new record, due to cost of groceries, housing
• Saskatoon high school students make massive donation to food bank
• Food banks in Regina, Saskatoon get million-dollar boost from K+S