On World Hunger Day, Hunger Is Still a Policy Choice

More than three decades in the food security sector have taught me how resilient and kind Canadians can be. But perhaps one of the most important lessons I have been reminded of, again and again, is that hunger, above all else, is a policy choice.

On World Hunger Day, governments and institutions around the world will once again affirm their commitment to ending hunger. It is a day meant to recognize progress, raise awareness, and recommit to the idea that everyone, everywhere, should have enough to eat.

And yet, for all the declarations and goodwill, hunger continues to rise, not only globally, but here at home.

Food Insecurity Is a Poverty and Inequality Crisis

In Canada, nearly 10 million people are now experiencing some form of food insecurity, including 2.4 million children. Fourteen years ago, when we founded Right To Food, then called Community Food Centres Canada, that number was closer to four million. 

The trajectory is clear: hunger is rising in our country, and it is deeply troubling. What is perhaps equally troubling is how little the underlying approach to addressing it has changed.

Why Canada’s Hunger Policies Fall Short

Hunger is still too often treated as a matter of charity. Donation drives and emergency food programs are held up as evidence that communities can take care of their own. And there is no question that people are generous. But charity is not a solution to a systemic problem.

On a day like World Hunger Day, we should be emphatic that a basic human right should never depend on the goodwill of others or on donated spare cans. Because hunger in a country as abundant as Canada is not about a lack of food. It reflects the profound inequality in how wealth and resources are shared in our country. 

Food insecurity is inseparable from poverty, from the growing gap between incomes and the cost of living, and from systems that fail to distribute resources fairly. All of our best available data clearly demonstrate that when household incomes rise, food insecurity declines.

And yet, in Canada and elsewhere, policy responses continue to fall short. Governments speak of affordability, but targeted income supports remain few and inadequate. New programs are introduced at the margins, often too modest to meaningfully shift outcomes. At the same time, far greater resources are directed elsewhere, revealing skewed priorities. We are committing billions in new defence spending, without a comparable investment in the public infrastructure and income supports that shape people’s day-to-day lives. 

The Economic Costs of Hunger in Canada

This is not just a social failure. It is an economic one, too.

Hunger drives up health-care costs, limits educational outcomes, and reduces productivity. It weakens communities and constrains potential. It also reinforces gender and racial inequities and intergenerational disparities. And in Canada, where Indigenous communities face much higher levels of hunger, poverty, and homelessness, it is a reflection of our failure to advance nation-to-nation reconciliation.

Every dollar invested in income security pays dividends far beyond the immediate benefit. The real cost lies in inaction.

With our programs at Right To Food, we have seen what is possible when people have access to good food in welcoming, dignified spaces. We have seen improvements in health, reduced isolation, and a renewed sense of belonging. But even the strongest community efforts have limits.

They cannot compensate for rising rents, stagnant wages, and insufficient social support. And they are not a substitute for good social and economic policy.

Treating Food as a Human Right in Canada

Once we recognize access to food as a basic human right, the path forward becomes clear.

In Canada, that means strengthening targeted income supports such as the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, modernizing Employment Insurance, and scaling up the Canada Disability Benefit. It means employers paying workers a living wage and providing adequate benefits. It also means advancing Indigenous food sovereignty, including protecting the rights to hunt, fish, and harvest, which are essential to Indigenous well-being and relations with the land. 

Globally, the same principle applies: hunger often persists not because of scarcity, but because of government choices about how resources are allocated and who is prioritized in decision-making.

World Hunger Day Is a Test of Political Leadership

Food is much more than a commodity. At Right To Food, we view it as a public good: it is a marker of justice, and it shapes health, anchors culture, and connects people to land, water, and one another. If millions of people in a country as wealthy as Canada cannot reliably afford food, then something fundamental is broken.

On World Hunger Day, the question is not whether we have the tools to end hunger. 

The question is whether the federal government, and all orders of government, are prepared to use them. The solutions exist, but delivering them at the scale required will demand real political leadership — and stronger, more coordinated advocacy from us all to move this issue forward.