Rethinking Food Charity

September 2, 2026

While food banks have become one of the most visible responses to food insecurity in Canada and worldwide, Executive Director of Feed Nova Scotia Ash Avery, along with Sue Keheller, Director of Community Partnerships, Innovation, & Advocacy, explore what food banks mean for the future of food insecurity in their recent paper titled Rethinking Food Charity: The Rise and Limits of Food Banks in Addressing Food Insecurity.

Food banks have been around for decades, with the first widely recognized food bank opening its doors in 1967. When they first began to show up, they were described as “temporary emergency measures intended to respond to short-term economic hardship”. Since then, we’ve continued to see food banks become more commonplace in everyday society. And with more than 10 million Canadians – more than a quarter of our population – experiencing food insecurity, it’s becoming increasingly clear we have a problem on our hands. But what kind of problem are we looking at exactly?

The truth is that food banks have now become a deeply institutionalized and entrenched response to food insecurity across the country. There are over 5,500 food banks within Food Banks Canada’s network and collectively, they serve over 2.2 million people a month. The cycle of food banks continue to build upon institutional dependence; becoming reliant on the systems that generate food insecurity while giving those that cause these societal issues tax breaks, public praise, and more.  A gap filler in weakened social safety nets, one that governments continue to rely on to keep society moving rather than addressing the root causes of why food insecurity exists – food banks have become a socially acceptable response to the problem, one where everyone seems to win.

But despite their widespread presence, food banks and other food support services actually have a limited impact on reducing food insecurity. Only a small portion of those experiencing food insecurity access these kinds of supports, with many clients experiencing shame or a loss of dignity, demoralization, and further stigma. Additionally, due to the charitable nature of food banks, there are concerns about the quality, predictability, and appropriateness of the distributed food.

As a response to these issues, many food banks are working to introduce more dignity, choice, and nutritional quality for those accessing support. They’re going beyond – choosing to focus on diversifying programs, incorporating more community-based services, and creating space for initiatives that move beyond emergency food support.

While food banks play an essential role in providing immediate food support and work to bridge the gaps that they, it remains true that at its base, food insecurity remains an income-based issue.

You can read the full paper here.