Winnipeg's suburban dream may be the food desert of the future

Food deserts aren't just an inner-city problem.A CBC I-Team investigation hasfound thatlimited access to healthy foods can also be a daily concern for many residents of Winnipeg'ssuburban neighbourhoods.

• Buying groceries a long trek for family in Winnipeg food desert
• Neechi Foods fighting to fill gaps left by major grocers in inner city

An analysis of the store locations of major grocers within Winnipeg's neighbourhoods revealed several areas beyond the city's core where mobility-challenged residents must overcome significant distances to stock their pantries.

Groups that study food securitygenerally consider one kilometre as being on the outer limits of what is considered accessible for all residents.The map below illustrates a one-kilometre buffer zone around each grocery-store used in the analysis. The highlightedgreen areasoutside of these zonesare examples of neighbourhoodsthat are considered to have a lesser degree of access.

• ON MOBILE? Check out ourinteractive map here.

The above map highlights the size of food deserts in neighbourhoods such as Waverley West, Island Lakes and Mynarski,and also in Westdale.

Raheem Mohammed lives in aManitoba Housing complex in Charleswood,another zone without a supermarket.

Mohammed has limited mobility and navigates the streets with a walker, as a result ofa spinal fusion and multiple hip surgeries.

He used to take a bus to an Extra Foods in the Park West Shopping Centre on Roblin, but it closed its doors this past summer to undergo renovations. Loblaws expects the store to reopen later this month under the No Frillsbanner.

"I took a bus down there one time and I found out the hard way that it's closed," saidMohammed, who nowbuses to the grocery store in Tuxedo Village.

"Because of my disability, sometimes I have to make two or three trips on the bus."

Occasionally,Mohammed will bite the bullet and take money out of his food budget to pay for cabs and someone to help him.

"There's a guy in the building, I just give him $20 to go with me to help get everything in the cab and help me get everything upstairs to my suite," he said.

Fortunately for Mohammed, the nearest food bank, at St. Mary's Anglican Church, is just over half a kilometre away. Despite that, it takes Mohammed a good 20 minutes to walk there.

"Depending if the sidewalk is clear going home," he said. "I stop and rest a couple of times about 25 minutes."

'Needs in every end of the city'

About 40 neatly numbered white crates line the tables in St.Mary's parish hall.A group of volunteers meet here once every two weeks to help distribute Winnipeg Harvest food hampers.

Susan Brown says the food bank started two years ago,when her fellow parishionerslearned how great the need was in the neighbourhood.

"There was a need in this area for a place that people can easily access by walking as opposed to having to travel too far to get to a food bank," Brown said.

Many of the clients she sees have mobility issues.

"It's expensive to use cabs and sometimes really burdensome to have to use the bus system because a lot of people that were using the bus have to transfer a couple of times," shesaid,"and when you're carrying a heavy load of groceries, it's a lot of work."

Brown believes many in Winnipeg aren't aware of how many people are stranded in food deserts outside the city core.

"We do tend to look at certain pockets of the city that are in more need than others," shesaid.

"I think that's a big misconception that we need to get rid of; in order to help peopleis to say that there are needs in every end of the city."

Food deserts by design

Think food deserts are just an inner city problem?

9 years ago

Duration 2:44

An I-Team analysis of supermarket locations and access found several food deserts in suburban areas. Urban Studies researcher Robert Galston worries supermarket access in the area will rely heavily on car transportation.In Waverley West,a massive expanse of suburbia is popping up in an area still dotted by the occasional silo.Large houses with two-car garages perch along winding boulevards.The area boasts walking and biking trails and quiet residential living.

Currently, the 12-square-kilometre neighbourhood has no major grocery stores within its boundaries, whichaccording to city reports,are expected to eventually house 40,000 residents.

However, construction of a new supermarket in the northernmost part of the area is currently underwaywith the expected opening in late 2016of a Save-on-Foods store part ofa B.C. chain owned by Overwaitea Food Group.

Urban studies researcher Robert Galston says neighbourhoods like Bridgwater couldexclude many residents as they age.

"This neighbourhood all around us was built for a certain type of demographic: a middle-class family person or a person with a car, or the means for a car," he said.

Galston fears the design could work against it as the neighbourhood ages,creating an even worse food desert than the current one in the heart of the city.

For one, its winding roads aren't as easy for transit to navigate as a grid pattern.As well, there's nowhere to walk to buy simple staples such asa litre of milk.

"If this neighbourhood were to decline or be a lower-income area, it would be even more challenging and probably more of a severe food desert," he said.

"With an inner city, you still do have those corner stores. They may not be the solution to a food desert problem, obviously, but with a neighbourhood like this, you don't have even poor options."

Stores 'non-stop packed,' says councillor

South Winnipeg St.Norbert Coun.Janice Lukes knows there aren't enough grocery stores in her ward. She says that every time she shops, "It's packed, it's non-stop packed."

Recently she tweeted pictures of signage for a new Sobeys storeunder construction at the corner of Pembina Highway and Killarney Avenue in the Fort Richmond area.

Lukes saidthat simple tweet elicited an unexpected reaction.

"I was just thrilled." she said."I was astounded at the number of hits and retweets and retweets that I got."

Lukes saidshe has been keeping a close eye on the rapidlygrowing developments in the southwesternpart of the city.

"There are some flaws in the design I'll admit I've discovered a few in the last year but there's still time, I think, to change some of them," she said.

The councilloradded thatshe's confident that as the development expands and ages, it will meet the demands of an aging community, both in terms of access to grocery stores and access to transit to get peoplethere.

"I think there's a lot of opportunity to make sure that it develops so that people will be able to have access," she said.

Back in Charleswood, Raheem Mohammed's neighbourhood is all grown up.He has becomeused to grocery trips taking up much of his time.He has no fast and easy solutions.

"I guess move closer to a grocery store, but then I can't afford rent downtown," he said. "That's why I live in housing, right?"

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