Food banks in B.C. struggling under skyrocketing demand in 2025: report

Hunger in B.C. is at a record high, according to a new report of “unprecedented” food bank usage.

Surrey-based non-profit Food Banks BC’s annual Hunger Report shows nearly a quarter (24.4 per cent) of British Columbians are experiencing food insecurity, and food banks are struggling to keep up with a 79 per cent increase in demand since 2019.

Food Banks BC finds the crisis is not a matter of personal failure, but due to systemic issues of poverty and a weakened social safety net.

Executive Director Dan Huang-Taylor says it’s “deplorable” that anyone in the province should go hungry, and British Columbians should resist the normalization of the situation.

“Charities should not be expected to bear the responsibility for this work. Many charitable organizations, particularly in rural communities, are facing an existential crisis,” Huang-Taylor wrote.

The report shows 33,000 children received food from B.C. food banks in one month — or 31 per cent of all clients.

B.C. food banks were visited over 1 million times in just the first six months of 2025, and the report says 33,961 people visited for their first time.

Many of the food banks surveyed reported purchasing food or being forced to reduce portions due to demand. Eleven per cent reported turning people away because the bank ran out of food.

The report shows that proportionally, adults in the Northern and Interior regions of the province are most likely to visit food banks.

It says banks with a “majority of racialized and Indigenous clients are reporting the worst capacity challenges.”

Working with the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, and Living Wage BC, Food Banks BC has made four recommendations to the provincial governement to address the issue, including strengthening food systems at the local and municipal level, raising household incomes and adopting living wage policies, supporting Indigenous food sovereignty, and pressuring the federal government to improve the Canada Child Benefit and deliver automatic tax filing services — among many others.

“This is not just an ethical imperative; it is an economic one. Investing in the end of poverty builds a stronger economy and a healthier province for everyone,” the report concludes.