Food insecurity soaring on P.E.I. even as the province's poverty rate goes down

The number of people living in poverty on P.E.I. is dropping, but an increasing number of Islanders don't have reliable access to affordable, healthy food, a legislative committee heard Wednesday.

MLAs received an update from members of the Department of Social Development and Seniors and the Department of Housing, Land and Communities on whether the province is on track with its goals when it comesto eliminatingpoverty.

Three years ago, the legislature passed the Poverty Elimination Strategy Act, aimed at completely getting rid of poverty in the province by 2035.

Other targets were scheduled to be reached by this Jan. 1.

The act envisioned a 25-per-cent reduction in poverty rates for all Islanders compared to six years ago.In 2022, the most recent data from Statistics Canada, the poverty rate had dropped 27 per cent.

For children the target was a 50-per-cent reduction in poverty, and so far it is down by 34 per cent.

Why more and more people on P.E.I. are having trouble getting access to nutritious, affordable food

2 days ago

Duration 2:29

During a legislative committee meeting, Shaun MacNeill from the Department of Social Development and Seniors took questions on P.E.I.'s poverty and food insecurity rates. The most recent data from Statistics Canada shows a rise in food insecurity for all Islanders.

Meanwhile, the goal was to reduce food insecurity for all Islanders 50 per cent but instead, it's up 65 per cent.

For children, the province planned to push food insecurity to zero. It's up 67 per cent.

What we've seen is that poverty rates have gone down but food insecurity rates have gone up. To be frank, that is a challenging situation. Shaun MacNeill

"The academics have always told us that the best way to address food insecurity is to address poverty. If you give people more money, food [security] should follow, again, in lock step," said Shaun MacNeill, a strategy director withthe Department of Social Development and Seniors.

"What we've seen is that poverty rates have gone down but food insecurity rates have gone up. To be frank, that is a challenging situation."

The provincial officials did point out that there is a lag in the data, and the impact of increased funding forfood programs for children and seniors isnot yet being captured.

They said they will continue to investigate why that food insecurity number isn't declining along with poverty. They arealso in the process of drafting the next poverty strategy, along with a consultant, and public consultations will be forthcoming.