Our hope is that food banks across Canada will use the toolkit to help them actively participate in the 2019 federal election and make the network’s policy priorities an important part of the electoral debate in ridings across the country. While the toolkit suggests various ways that your food bank can get involved in the electoral process to influence policy, every food bank has their own individual circumstances.

While food banks are doing everything that they can to help those in need, they are not able to address the root causes of why people need their support.

This policy paper outlines a tax credit plan to help farmers who donate fresh food to food banks.

A forthcoming national poverty reduction strategy must be permanent, have measurable targets, and real funding behind it.

The number of single, working-age adults accessing food banks has doubled since 2001, and this population now accounts for nearly half of households assisted by food banks. Nowhere to Turn examines the roots of this problem, and makes policy recommendations to help bring this population into the social and economic mainstream.

We make the case that Nutrition North Canada is a simple subsidy for northern retailers that has been built on a flawed, overly-ambitious policy rationale.

Northern Canadians face highly elevated levels of food insecurity. Particularly among First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations, a combination of low income, the high cost of store-bought foods, and decreased access to traditional foods has contributed to levels of food insecurity that are nothing short of a public health emergency.

The idea that food banks create dependence among the people they help is a common one. Many see food banks as providing – to use a well-worn phrase – a "hand out, not a hand up."

This policy paper outlines a plan to increase donations of essential food to food banks by food manufacturers.

As tax time approaches, the web is abuzz with advice on smart investing. RRSP, TFSA, RESP, bonds, mutual funds, GICs – it’s enough to make your head spin. Unfortunately, for a large number of Canadians it’s pretty much irrelevant.

The current national conversation about Canada’s retirement income system has been a great example of Canadians talking to each other about what really matters.