Post 2: The Land of Milk and Money
I came to Canada at the end of August 1979 as an international student. My wife and I were international students in the Master’s program at the Department of Sociology, University of Waterloo in Ontario. I was not very much involved in local food justice events then. But I quickly learned that living with what we had was not enough. In our first week, we bought a set of pots and pans from the Eaton store, which now does not exist like many other Canadian retail chains. At the end of the month, we had nothing to cook in those pans. One classmate told me we could return them and get our money back. This was like meeting Santa Claus in September. But we did it. We got our money back and walked across the street to buy groceries from the Dominion Store, a retail chain that also doesn’t exist. $200 a month was not enough, even on those days. Why didn’t you go to a food bank, you may say? Cause food banks did not exist in Canada in 1979.
The first food bank, the Edmonton Gleaners Association, opened in Edmonton on January 16, 1981, during a recession caused by an oil industry bust. Canadian Association for Food Banks (later named Food Banks Canada) opened in 1987. Food Banks Canada has been releasing reports called HungerCount since 1997. HungerCount reports are published annually, providing a point-in-time snapshot of food bank use in Canada (based on numbers in March). The 2024 HungerCount Report revealed 2,059,636 visits in March 2024, as reported by 2,589 food banks in Canada. Compared to March 2019 figures, there was a 90% increase in food bank visits. These reports are pretty revealing, even though they may represent only a portion of the food-insecure people in Canada. Loopstra and Tarasuk’s study in 2006-07 pointed out that only 28% of people who faced food insecurity would use a food bank. Another study, the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, revealed that (34.4% in 1997 and 32.8% in 2007) families reporting child hunger would use food banks (McIntyre et al. 2012). Despite their limitations, the HungerCount reports remained the only annually available public document about hunger in Canada.
Back in 1979, the People’s Food Commission was working on its report explaining the hunger and farm crisis in Canada. The Land of Milk and Money is a key historical document for those who want to learn why food banks emerged after the 1980s and about the struggles of civil society for food and farm justice in Canada. This is also an important document likely to give clues about the impacts of the global crises of the mid-1970s and following neoliberal restructuring to manage the post-Breton Woods disorder. Let us read a couple of paragraphs from the Land of Milk and Money:
“It was no accident that the People’s Food Commission was organized in 1977. By that year, Canada’s food system was showing signs of severe strain.
The world economy saw drastic changes in 1973-74. Just when the United States was suffering from its losing war in Vietnam, the OPEC nations quadrupled the price of oil and, in effect, began to break the economic domination of the world by the industrialized nations. Inflation and unemployment jumped together. While unemployment stayed at over seven per cent during the 1970s, house prices climbed past the reach of three-quarters of Canadian families, and in the last four years food prices have increased by over fifty per cent. The economic crisis has not yet turned into a political crisis (as it did during the 1930s) but it has brought suffering to many Canadians, especially those on low and fixed incomes.
In the post-war years especially, there has been steady pressure on our farm population; eighty per cent of farmers have left their land since 1945. But the pressure has increased sharply in the past five years, and it is no exaggeration to speak of a crisis in agriculture. Those who work in food-related industries are under increasing tension as the crisis works its way through the food system.”
People’s Food Commissions talked to Canadians in different locations from coast to coast. In 1979, they ran out of money. The final report was published by Between the Lines Press in Toronto. It reflected different opinions and sensitivities and focused on various issues, but it provided a snapshot of what was happening in Canada then. It also summarized what was about to happen. You can find a copy of this book on the Food Secure Canada website.
I like to go back to the crisis of the 1970s and the series of conferences that took place in 1974. This was a significant turning point that led to the Third World debt problem and what some call the “development of underdevelopment” or “recolonization” in the post-colonial era in the global South. The same dynamics brought neoliberalism to the industrialized world in the West: tight monetary regimes, austerity programs, economic restructuring and deindustrialization. Labour unions were defeated in the US, UK and Canada, and the dismantling of the welfare state condemned millions to poverty. In 1995, one of the first major policy decisions of the conservative government of Mike Harris was to cut social assistance rates by 21.6%. You can read the impact of Harris’ Common Sense Revolution in this report by the Ontario Federation of Labour. It created unemployment, precarious employment and homelessness. Suddenly, the number of people sleeping on the streets rose. Newspapers would report people freezing to death on cold nights, a trend that continues. Toronto Public Health announced that from January to June 2024, there were 135 reported deaths among people experiencing homelessness in the city, about five deaths a week. For those interested in reading more on this subject, I would recommend Cathy Crowe’s insights, a homelessness and housing activist from Toronto.
Instead of accepting the blame, the neoliberal/neoconservative leadership blamed global competition and justified moving industry to the South, where there were no unions and very few regulations. As often happens, the victims would blame other victims, which would make easier scapegoats: immigrants, refugees, racialized people, women, and LGBTQ people. Rascals, everywhere, drape themselves into nationalism or religion. Smashing an Asian car with a sledgehammer or refusing to eat French fries could comfort some or make a nice story for the evening TV.
In the early 1990s, when I visited my old home, Türkiye, I could not find any gift items to take with a “Made in Canada” label. I guess I was looking for cheaper gifts. In those days, I used to play word games with my son. “What do you call the people of Germany? What do you call the people of Italy?” One day, my son came to me and said, “Chinese are the smartest people in the world.” I asked him why he thought so. His answer was, “Because they make all the toys.” I looked at his toys; they all carried “Made in China” labels. That is how I noticed that he learned to read. This was the environment in which food banks emerged in Canada
I enjoy Michael Moore’s documentaries and frequently use some clips, especially his 1989 documentary, Roger and Me. This documentary shows the impacts of deindustrialization on his hometown, Flint, Michigan and often puts tears in my eyes. A feature film he made in 1995, Canadian Bacon, made me laugh when I first watched it as a big John Candy (as Bud B. Boomer) fan. Alan Alda was playing the unnamed President who would target Canada to improve his approval rating. Facing the threat of Anschluss, I find Canadian Bacon does not make me laugh as much as I watched the first time.
I learned that the often-referenced Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” did not originate in China. But no doubt we live in interesting (as scary) times. As a sociologist interested in world history, I can say that scary times hurt millions. However, they also carry the potential to bring significant changes in history. Buckle up your seat belts!