Food Insecurity In Canada

Hillside-Quadra: Interactive Family Kitchen
British Columbia (BC) is a wealthy province that provides a variety of publicly funded services to its residents, however, from 2011 to 2012 almost 1.1 million British Columbians and 4.9 percent of Canadian children were affected by food insecurity (Rideout & Kotasky, 2014, Statistics Canada, 2015). Food insecurity goes beyond not having enough to eat but also has an impact on health equity and social justice. “Children experiencing food insecurity have poorer school performance, and having not learned healthy eating habits in childhood; they face additional challenges of healthy living as adults” (Rideout & Kotasky, 2014).
Health equity and social justice occur when individuals have equal opportunities

A community health assessment of the Hillside-Quadra area was performed and considered various aspects of the community, including the population, the socioeconomic environment, and health and social services. Personal communication with some of the residents determined that food insecurity is of major significance for many in the community. “Food insecurity exists within a household when one or more members do not have access to the variety or quantity of food they need due to lack of money” (Statistics Canada, 2015). Community kitchens (CK), are easily adapted to an IFK concept, have been implemented by two communities within Victoria (Appendix B; Personal Communication) and are capable of serving as a public health initiative that benefits the communities they serve (Iacovou et al.,

4). It is a complete community action start-up kit that has everything needed to run a kids’ cooking club. However, to promote family health, it is important to find ways to involve the entire family. A similar campaign to IFKs in the United Kingdom found the greatest strength of the program was the relationship building between parents and children (Mackereth, 2007). Program sessions offered family members the opportunity to experience a sense of sharing and cooperation which contributed to an understanding of how to interact with others in groups (Mackereth, 2007). Learning how to interact in a group has the potential to improve children’s relationship building skills. It is important to develop relationship building skills because, studies regarding food insecurity indicate that children who are hungry or at risk of hunger experience greater risk for impaired social skills (Jyoti et al.,