Food bank use across Canada is at the highest level since 1997, with nearly 900,000 people turning to them in March 2010, says a survey released Tuesday.

Food bank use across Canada is at its highest level since 1997. (CBC)

The HungerCount 2010 survey found that 867,948 people used food banks in March 2010, an increase of 9.2 per cent or more than 73,000 people compared with the previous year. The figure was 28 per cent higher than in 2008.

"This is a reality check. Food banks are seeing first-hand that the recession is not over for a large number of Canadians," Katharine Schmidt, executive director of Food Banks Canada, which co-ordinated the annual national study, said in a statement.

"We are hearing that it is really tough out there. Many people who lost their jobs during the recession have now exhausted their unemployment benefits, and are looking to self-employment or to temporary and part-time jobs for income," she said.

"Others have been forced to fall back on social assistance. These options aren't paying the bills, and people are accessing food banks to fill the gap."

Among the survey's other findings:

• 80,150 people or 9.2 per cent used a food bank for the first time.
• Food bank use grew in every province in 2010.
• 38 per cent of those assisted by food banks were children under 18.
• Half of assisted households are families with children.
• 17 per cent of households that used food banks have employment income.
• Seven per cent of assisted households have a pension as their primary source of income.

Working poor need more help

"Though the recession has made things worse, the causes of hunger and low income run much deeper than the recent economic crisis," said Schmidt.

"The need for food banks is a result of our failure as a country to adequately address a number of social issues, including a changing job market, a lack of affordable housing and child care, and a social safety net that is ineffective."

Don Armstrong, the community food bank manager in Chilliwack, B.C., says more and more families, whose parents make a low wage, are in need.

"The issue of living wage is a prevalent one in B.C. Families who work with low wages are faced impossible choices between food and the heat of their homes and what not," he said.

Food banks in rural communities are finding they can't keep up with the demand, especially when local industries like mills shut down, said Armstrong.

"The number of two-parent families requiring help has increased. The percentage of homeowners seeking help has also increased," he said.

Food Banks Canada made several recommendations to address the issue including:

• Implementing a national poverty prevention and reduction strategy.
• Creating a federal housing strategy.
• Maintaining current levels of federal transfer payments to provincial, territorial, and First Nations governments.
• Addressing rates of low income among seniors.

HungerCount has collected data on food bank use every March since 1997.