Working people increasingly struggle to buy food, says Kenora food bank

Food insecurity continues to worsen across Northwestern Ontario and local food bank numbers suggest Kenora is feeling the effects.

A recent report from the Northwestern Health Unit found one in five households across the region experienced food insecurity in 2024, the highest level recorded in nearly two decades of monitoring. The health unit says the problem is driven by inadequate income rather than a lack of food, with rising housing costs, inflation and stagnant wages leaving many households struggling to afford basic necessities.

Those findings are reflected at the Salvation Army food bank in Kenora, where demand for food bank services has climbed sharply during the first half of 2026.

According to the Salvation Army’s Community Ministries Director Stuart Walter, food bank appointments are up 27 percent compared with the same period in 2025, while the number of people receiving food has increased by 117 percent.

Perhaps most concerning, Walter said nearly 45 percent of food bank clients are either working or actively looking for work. In September 2025, that figure was about one in four.

The growing demand comes as donations decline.

Walter says that support from the Kenora & Lake of the Woods Community Foundation, Safeway and Wholesale Club has helped keep shelves stocked, but it has not been enough to match the increasing need.

The health unit says food insecurity is increasingly affecting working households. Its report notes many people with jobs still do not earn enough to cover the rising costs of housing, food and other essential expenses. The health unit argues that while food banks play an important role in helping people through emergencies, they cannot solve food insecurity because the root cause is insufficient income.

The report also highlights challenges unique to Northwestern Ontario, where higher transportation costs, limited grocery competition in some communities and the higher cost of living make healthy food less affordable.

For a family of four in the Northwestern Health Unit region, the monthly cost of eating a healthy diet is estimated at about $1,501, while average monthly rent is $2,068.

The health unit says many households with low or fixed incomes are left with little or no money to cover other necessities after paying for food and housing. Nwonewswatch.com

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I have said this before and I guess it needs saying again.  For some reason, the plight of the working poor have been completely ignored by all levels of government.

Governments bend over backwards spending millions on supporting people who do not work. Refuse to work.  Will never work.
These people contribute zero to the economy, to the community and the country. Zero. Zilch.

Yet, they are given free everything.  Free food. Free accommodations. Free clothing. Free, well, you name it, they get it for free.

Working poor struggle to pay for food, rent and clothing.   Working actually makes them worse off.

How is that a thing.  How is work a financial liability?

Taxpayers are spending millions of dollars to build 80 tiny homes.  Taxpayer will be spending millions of dollars more supporting those 80 tiny homes.  Air conditioning. Shower facilities, Food. Free rides for doctor appointments.   To qualify for this taxpayer funded paradise, all you need is to not work.  Just do not work.

Why does anyone bother working? Only idiots work. That is the world we now live in.