Skyrocketing housing and grocery prices are disproportionately hitting Black families the hardest. Here's what is needed to fix it
Lolade Ozomoge is director of communications at the Canadian Black Policy Network (CBPN), a nonprofit advancing racial equity through data-driven research, community collaboration, and strategic policy advocacy to improve outcomes for Black communities across Canada.
Canada is in the throes of a cost-of-living crisis, and Black communities are being hit the hardest. As rents skyrocket and grocery prices soar to alarming heights, Black families are disproportionately pushed to the brink and trapped in a relentless cycle of economic exclusion. While policymakers mull over solutions, Black Canadians continue to live the brutal reality of making impossible choices between shelter and sustenance.
One would wonder why the nation is still grappling with these challenges in 2025. For Black communities, this is not just an offshoot of an economic downturn or an issue of affordability. It is about the deep racial inequities baked into Canada's housing, labour, and economic systems; a systemic failure that continues to suffocate this marginalized group, and the numbers tell a damning story. In the recently released policy brief by the Canadian Black Policy Network (CBPN), findings show that nearly one-third (31.8 per cent) of Black Canadians live in inadequate housing, three times the rate of white Canadians. Meanwhile, Black Canadians experience food insecurity at double the national average — a staggering 38 per cent, compared to 16.1 per cent for the general population.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
7 hours ago
- CBC
Americans, Canadians meet at International Peace Garden for 'handshake across the border'
Canadians and Americans came together on Saturday to shake hands, share perspectives and attempt to show that the two nations remain good neighbours and friends despite political tensions. "What we see in the news doesn't reflect what we see on the ground," Jeoffrey Smith of Santa Rosa, California said on Saturday. "We really are peace-loving people, and we love our neighbours, we love Canadians." Smith was one of the more than one hundred Canadians and Americans who showed up on both sides of the border at the International Peace Garden on Saturday, for what was dubbed 'Handshake Across the Border.' The event gave Canadians and Americans the chance to shake hands directly across the border at the Peace Garden, located adjacent to the International Peace Garden Border Crossing between Manitoba and North Dakota, south of Boissevain. According to their website, the garden, which was established in 1932 is a "celebration of peace, and a "living monument to the ideals of friendship and cooperation among nations." Smith, who was crossing the border this week back to the U.S. after spending time with family in Winnipeg, said for him the handshake symbolized the love that he said many Americans have for Canadians, even as U.S. president Donald Trump continues to impose tariffs on Canadian goods and make comments about Canada becoming a 51st state. "There's so much animosity going on between our two countries, we want to demonstrate we love our neighbours, and we're all together on this planet," Smith said. Tim Chapman, CEO of the International Peace Garden, said the handshake was organized as part of the garden's annual Summer Floral Celebration on Saturday, because they wanted to find a way to show Canadians and Americans meeting and embracing. "We're just trying to get as many Americans and Canadians here today as possible, get some awesome drone shots and photography of Americans and Canadians doing what the garden stands for," Chapman said. "Coming together and appreciating each other, and really showing that this cross border friendship is as important as ever." He added he hopes the event can show the importance of people meeting face-to-face, rather than simply debating or arguing online. "It's one thing to see what we do on TV and in social media, it's another thing to get in front of people and remember how valuable interpersonal, in-person relationships are." Alison Bjornseth, who lives on a farm in Bottineau County in North Dakota, not far from the border, said she came to Wednesday's handshake because she values the friendships she has made with Canadians over the years. "We have a lot of friends in Canada, and they've been very discouraged lately, and so we're trying to do what we can to support, and to show that we are friends," she said. "We're going to continue to be friends with our Canadian buddies.
CTV News
9 hours ago
- CTV News
Survey finds Canadians support infrastructure projects regardless of provincial, Indigenous pushback
Watch A new Nanos survey found that most Canadians support infrastructure progress regardless of opposition by various parties, groups, or environmental concerns.
CTV News
10 hours ago
- CTV News
Canadians prioritize national infrastructure projects over potential pushback: Nanos
A majority of Canadians support or somewhat support national infrastructure projects, even if there is opposition from provinces, Indigenous peoples or environmental concerns, according to new survey results from Nanos Research, conducted for CTV News. Seventy per cent of Canadians surveyed support or somewhat support national projects even in the face of potential Indigenous opposition, while more than half — 59 per cent — oppose or somewhat oppose Indigenous Nations having the power to block projects. 'This speaks to a situation where there is political licence, but that does not mean it is the best path forward,' Nik Nanos told CTV News. 'There is a whole new appetite to move forward that never really existed to this level because of Donald Trump.' 'I think what it shows is that there is a lack of understanding, writ large across the country, of the role Indigenous people play in the national economy,' said Mark Podlasly of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC). The FNMPC represents 180 First Nation members across Canada who want to participate in major projects in their territories — as long as their rights and environmental protections are in place, and they can participate meaningfully. Podlasly says he was not surprised by the survey results. 'People have seen Indigenous people as being roadblocks to projects… There has to be a shift in seeing Indigenous people not as a risk, but as an opportunity to de-risk projects, to ensure that investors will invest in Canada on those projects, and that we can get to market on time,' he told CTV News. The survey also found 60 per cent support or somewhat support developing Arctic land as an oil and gas route, even if there are environmental concerns. CTV News reached out to the Assembly of First Nations as well as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami for comment on the findings, but did not hear back by deadline. When it comes to regional opposition, the numbers are even higher. Seventy-seven per cent of those surveyed support or somewhat support national infrastructure projects, even if provinces oppose them. 'When you ask people, 'Do they support infrastructure?', most people are going to say yes,' said Moshe Lander, an economist at Concordia University. 'But then if you ask them, 'Are they going to support it if you have to pay higher taxes, or cutbacks in government services,' I am not sure how strong that support is. That is always the issue, right? How are you going to pay for it?' Lander says infrastructure across Canada is a complicated picture — economically, politically and financially — that has been neglected 'probably for decades,' and needs everything from billions of dollars to addressing a skilled worker shortage in order to fix. The findings come against the backdrop of a prime minister who has promised to 'build, baby build.' The Liberals were able to pass the Building Canada Act, or Bill C-5, amid criticism that it was too rushed. Mark Carney is aiming to get a Major Projects Office as well as an Indigenous Advisory Council up and running by Labour Day. He concluded three summits with Indigenous groups this summer, listening to concerns over Bill C-5. The Conservatives, meanwhile, are promising a motion called the Canada Sovereignty Act and are calling for shovels in the ground on a number of major infrastructure projects — including two pipelines — by March 14, the one-year anniversary of Carney taking office. Methodology: Nanos Research, RDD dual-frame hybrid telephone and online random survey, July 31 to Aug. 6, 2025, n=1034, accurate 3.1 percentage points plus or minus, 19 times out of 20.
