Officials with Winnipeg's food bank are agreeing with a United Nations report that says Canada is failing some of its own people when it comes to food security.

The UN's right-to-food envoy, Olivier De Schutter, said in a report Monday that Canada can't credibly preach human rights on the international stage when too many of its own citizens are going hungry.

While the federal government has rejected the UN report, some at Winnipeg Harvest say they're not surprised by De Schutter's findings.

David Northcott, Winnipeg Harvest's executive director, says he'd like to see all Canadians have a legal right to food.

"Then it's not of: 'Please, sir, can we have more?' It's a matter of: 'Wait a minute, as a citizen, we have this entitlement,'" Northcott said Monday.

Don De Meo, who has depended on social assistance for 4½ years, agrees that governments should make food a basic right.

"I don't think we need handouts, although we're grateful for what Winnipeg Harvest is doing here. But actually, we'd just like to see it in the budget," he said.

More than 55,000 Manitobans rely on food banks each month.

Click on the video player above to watch Aadel Haleem's report.

With files from The Canadian Press