A food bank in Mississauga, run by the local Sikh community, says food insecurity in the city has reached emergency levels, with children making up a growing share of the people it helps. In its inaugural report, the Ceva Food Bank, which serves residents in the Malton and Cooksville areas, said that more than one in four of its clients in 2025 were children, according to CBC News.
According to the food bank, those young clients accounted for nearly 13,000 visits over the course of the year. Staff noted that children are usually the last members of a household to experience food insecurity, because parents tend to defer their own food intake in order to feed their kids first. The fact that children are now going hungry as well, they said, suggests that the parents are struggling to an even greater degree.
The broader picture in Mississauga points to a sharp deterioration. According to data compiled by Food Banks Mississauga, the rate of food insecurity in the city has gone from one in 37 residents to one in 16 in recent years. Two years ago, Mississauga declared food insecurity an emergency, and the city says that emergency is still in effect today.
The figures underline a widening gap between incomes and the cost of living. Food for a family of four is now expected to cost over 17,000 dollars a year, while the average income of a household using a food bank in Mississauga is around 24,000 dollars a year. That leaves households with very little once the cost of food is set against rent, utilities and other essentials.
The pattern of use has also changed. Food bank staff said that people who once visited three or four times a year, usually during a sudden financial emergency, are now coming 11 or 12 times a year, because for many households every single month has become that kind of emergency. One man who relies on the food bank, and who did not want to appear on camera for fear of being stigmatized, described Ceva as a lifeline and called on the government to provide more support for people like him.
Some relief is on the way at the federal level. Starting in July, the Canada Groceries and Essentials benefit will replace the GST/HST credit and increase payments by 25 percent for five years to help eligible Canadians cope with the rising cost of goods. Advocates called it a positive first step but said much more is needed, stressing that the problem extends well beyond Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Area. The Ceva Food Bank is calling on all levels of government to address the root causes of food insecurity, in the hope that its report will help shape policy.