Food bank use remains at the recessionary level in Alberta despite employment gains.
The HungerCount 2011 survey of Canada released on Tuesday showed 58,735 Albertans used a food bank in March — a whopping 74.9 per cent higher than in 2008, before the recession struck. The survey was conducted by Food Banks Canada.
On average across Canada, food bank use was 26 per cent higher.
But some people were better off.
Nationally, there was a two per cent drop in use from 2010 and a one per cent decline in Alberta.
Red Deer Food Bank executive director Fred Scaife expects annual food bank use in Red Deer to remain steady.
Earlier in the year, there was a spike in use but in October, there was a 12 per cent drop, likely due do the mild fall weather that kept seasonal workers employed.
In October, a total of 442 food hampers were given out in Red Deer to assist 566 adults and 479 children.
In 2010, the food bank distributed 7,349 hampers to 9,700 adults and 7,200 children.
Scaife said growing economic diversity in Red Deer, Edmonton and Calgary should help Albertans get back on their feet in the future. But for now, there’s still a pool of skilled, unemployed workers waiting for jobs.
“Even though we’re out of the recession, a lot of companies tightened their belts and streamlined their operations,” Scaife said on Wednesday.
“I think a lot of industry is sitting on their money and waiting to see what’s going to happen in the world economy.”
In Alberta, the HungerCount showed:
l 43.7 per cent of food bank users were under age 18
l 36.2 per cent were single people
l 32.9 per cent received social assistance as their primary source of income and for 27.3 per cent it was job income
l 17.7 per cent of households were first-time food bank users, compared to 10 per cent in 2010
Scaife said a lot of first-time users are new Canadians in Alberta and elsewhere in the country who are working unskilled jobs. Some of them are professionals waiting to qualify to work in Canada.
Government has to do more to help break the cycle of poverty and the children he’s seen grow up using the food bank, he said.
“For me, it always boils down to a lack of affordable education options for these kids. Education is tremendously expensive.”
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com