Organizations sound alarm as nearly 32% of Calgarians struggle to afford food

CBC

11-08-2025

A growing number of Calgarians are facing food insecurity, says poverty reduction organization Vibrant Communities Calgary, which is sounding the alarm over how many people in the province are struggling.
According to Statistics Canada figures released this spring, 31.9 per cent of Calgarians lived in food insecure households in 2023. That's up from 24.9 per cent in 2022, and is well above the national average of 25.5 per cent.
That means, in 2023 — the most recent data available — over 500,000 people in Calgary had inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints.
The organization has uploaded those numbers to its well-being dashboard, which measures how Calgary is progressing toward its poverty-reduction targets.
"These numbers are very stark, and it paints a very stark picture of how a lot of people are struggling in the province," said Michelle James, director of policy at Vibrant Communities Calgary.
"Specifically for people living with low income, fixed income and living in poverty … what we're seeing the data show is that you're skipping meals. You're not eating because you either want your children to eat, or maybe because you have to pay your rent that month."
She said Alberta is near the top of the list of jurisdictions with the worst food insecurity, falling only behind Nunavut (58.1 per cent) and the Northwest Territories (34.2 per cent).
While the numbers date back a couple of years, James says there are signs that issue is just as prevalent today. In the last six months, her team has spoken to over 4,000 Calgarians about their most pressing issues.
"By far, food and food security and the affordability of food came up time and time again as one of the top issues for Calgarians."
At the Calgary Food Bank, CEO Melissa From said from her experience, food insecurity has gotten much worse since 2023.
When she stepped into her role that year, the food bank was providing 400 emergency food hampers each day. Today, as many as 800 families come in looking for help everyday, she said.
"That is literally twice as many folks as we were seeing two years ago on a day-to-day basis," said From.
Another trend she's noticed is the growth in the "working poor" accessing the Calgary Food Bank. She said 19 per cent of their clients today work full time.
"They've got a full time job, they've got either rent or mortgage, they've got car payments…. And at the end of the month, it's whittled away and there's simply not enough left for food."
According to From, a "perfect storm" of rising living costs and stagnant wages contributed to the growing problem. Now, she's worried about how tariffs could exacerbate the problem.
She wants to see all levels of government come together with organizations like hers to find short-term and long-term solutions to the complex issue.
James agrees.
"Just as all orders of government came to the table to look at easing affordability for housing, maybe it's time to come to the table and look at easing affordability for food insecurity and wider poverty measures," said James.
Vibrant Communities Calgary is also advocating for increased wages and increased adequacy of social assistance.