Food bank use in Ontario has surged to a record high with 8.7 million visits recorded in the past year as more than one million residents turned to emergency food services available in their communities, according to a newly released report.
A total of 1,007,441 people accessed Ontario food banks between April 2024 and March 2025, representing a 1 percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year and an 87 percent rise since 2019, says the report from Feed Ontario.
Meanwhile, visits are up 13 percent over the previous year with a total of 8,712,897 food bank visits recorded in 2024-2025. This marks a 165 percent increase since 2019-2020.
“For nearly a decade, Ontario’s Food Bank network has faced record high demand, and this year is no exception,” Feed Ontario CEO Carolyn Stewart said in the 2025 Hunger Report, noting that food bank usage has been on the rise for nine years….