Désirée McGraw

More families in need of food banks

Local Journalism Initiative / The Suburban / August 4, 2025 / : Dan Laxer, Banques Alimentaires du Québec, Désirée McGraw

Dan Laxer

Food insecurity is on the rise, as is the number of families in need of food banks. That’s according to a study released by Banques Alimentaires du Québec. It’s a trend that saw a sharp rise in 2023 and 2024, and will continue over the next years, through to 2027.

According to their statistics, the BAQ has seen 2.9 million requests for food assistance per month in the province, with the highest proportion – 907,597 – in Montreal. The organization says it’s never seen a situation like this since it’s been collecting statistics (2011), and it is calling on the provincial government to do more.

The difference now is that while food insecurity is indeed a problem for low-income households, the BAQ says now they are seeing families will full-time salaries asking for help. And they’re raising a red flag.

“Since 2019, demand for food aid has risen by 51 percent exceeding the capacity of BAQ members to meet it,” the study says. The lack of resources has been making it more difficult for food banks to respond to the needs of those in need of aid.

Food costs represent the second biggest expense for families who still need housing and other costs that don’t change month to month. “Your food budget is really one of the last things you control,” says Véronique Beaulieu-Fowler, the BAQ’s director of philanthropy.

Over the next year, the BAQ says, they will need $38 million to meet the needs of Quebecers. Government funding “has been essential to make up the shortfall and buy enough food to meet growing demand.” The BAQ would prefer to be able to rely on “predictable funding rather than continually knocking on the government’s door.”

“The situation is unacceptable,” says Désirée McGraw, the Official Opposition Critic for Social Solidarity and Community Action. “But even more worrying is the complacency of the Premier and his government, who plan to cut food bank assistance in 2025.”

Beaulieu-Fowler tells The Suburban that the government is aware of the new study, and of the challenges food banks will be facing over the next two years. At the very least, she says, the study gives the BAQ a predictable idea of how the next couple of years will evolve, and they will be able to prepare accordingly.

BAQ Director-General Martin Munger says they hope to reach an agreement with the Quebec government to meet the challenges ahead. “As long as structural measures and actions that tackle the roots of poverty and social inequality are not implemented,” he says “we will continue to face this rise.” n

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D’Arcy McGee MNA tables petition to improve mental health services

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

For the vast majority of people living on the autism spectrum or with severe mental disorders, social assistance is their only source of income, says Official Opposition critic for persons living with a disability or with autism spectrum disorder, Elisabeth Prass.

The Liberal MNA for D’Arcy-McGee tabled a petition to the National Assembly with 5,264 signatures requesting that autism diagnoses and certain severe mental health disorders be reintegrated into the list of evident diagnoses eligible for Quebec’s Social Solidarity program. Accompanied by her colleague, Désirée McGraw, critic for social solidarity and community action, and representatives from a number of organizations at a press conference, they called for individuals with severe mental health disorders and autism to be re-eligible for the program, noting these individuals account for 43.1% of social solidarity beneficiaries, with nearly 90% of them unemployed.

Finally, the petition proposes that the CAQ government change its approach to evaluating employment constraints from a biomedical paradigm to a psychological model to better understand impacted individuals’ realities and respond to their needs. “For the vast majority of people living on the autism spectrum or with severe mental disorders, social assistance is their only source of income, being for the most part unemployed. With the decision to exclude these diagnoses, the CAQ government is making life more difficult for vulnerable people,” said Prass. “We can’t abandon this category of people to their fate on the basis of biomedical assessment alone, but rather opt for a psychosocial assessment approach. That would be much more logical.”

In 2022, Quebec City revised criteria for expedited access to Social Solidarity for adults, resulting in the removal of over 50 diagnoses. This included conditions such as autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, complete blindness, and other permanent and irreversible conditions. The CAQ is significantly complicating the lives of individuals facing serious mental health disorders or other debilitating conditions, said McGraw. “Are these changes a strategic move by the CAQ to unjustly bar them from the Social Solidarity Program?”

The Fédération Québécoise de l’Autisme calls on Minister Chantal Rouleau to reconsider her decision, said executive director Lili Plourde, “and to provide proper support for adults facing substantial barriers to employment inclusion, aiming to assist them in breaking free from poverty.” n