Nearly one-third of refugees rely heavily on food banks during their first year in Canada, with four-in-five using the services at least once during their first 12 months in the country, according to a government report.
The Immigration Canada report discussed refugee experiences from 2016 to 2022, a timeframe in which Canada admitted a total of 207,060 refugees.
A survey of government-assisted refugees during that period found 31 percent “always” or “often” relied on food banks.
The report also found that 80 percent of these refugees needed to use a food bank at least once during their first year in Canada, compared to 40 percent of privately sponsored refugees, and 65 percent of Canadians sponsored through the Blended Visa Office-Referred program.
The federal government’s Resettlement Assistance program, which provides income support to refugees, was found to be “insufficient for meeting refugees’ immediate and essential needs,” according to the report, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter. A majority of refugees surveyed said they needed to work or use food banks because the income support did not meet their needs.
The majority of government assisted refugees, 53 percent or more, remained on social assistance for five years after their arrival in Canada, the report found.
“Refugees often require more support than typical settlement clients,” it said.
Of the 207,060 refugees let into Canada, 88,838 were government assisted, the report said. Most were men under the age of 29 from either Syria (33 percent), Afghanistan (33 percent) or Eritrea (15 percent).
The new study confirms 2022 Statistics Canada data that found government-assisted refugees take several years to adjust to life in Canada. The agency attributed the change to the repeal of a 1976 Immigration Act that required foreigners to show proof of work skills and economic independence.
Parliament enacted Bill C-11, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, in 2001, which waived any requirement that refugees prove they were unlikely to rely on social assistance.
“Because of these changes, refugees admitted after the Act may be more prone to relying on social assistance,” said the earlier StatCan report.
“This is less likely for privately sponsored refugees who are more likely to have family or friends in Canada and are better positioned to find employment through sponsors.”
The report comes at a time when increasing numbers of Canadians are also relying on food banks. Feed Ontario, which represents more than 1,200 food banks and hunger relief organizations in the province, said in a December report that the number of unique individuals accessing food banks in the last two years has increased by 73 percent.
Food Banks Canada, which tracked trends among the country’s 5,500 food banks and community organizations, said in an October report that Canada saw record food bank use this year, with a high of more than two million food bank visits in March.
