A motion from Wallaceburg Coun. Carmen McGregor is calling on Chatham-Kent council to declare food insecurity an emergency and push for higher social assistance rates and income-based solutions to poverty.
The notice of motion, tabled Aug. 25 and set to come before council on Sept. 8, cites Chatham-Kent Public Health data showing at least one in five households in the municipality experience food insecurity. It points to rising demand for food assistance, with Outreach for Hunger seeing a 38 per cent increase in clients between 2022 and 2024, the Village Pantry recording a 124 per cent increase in households served, and Reach Out Chatham-Kent providing more than 51,000 meals to under-housed residents in 2024, up 17 per cent from 2022.
The motion argues food insecurity is a public health problem tied to poverty, inadequate income supports and rising costs of basic needs. It notes Ontario Works rates have been frozen since 2018 at $733 per month for a single person, with public health reporting that a person on those benefits spends about 134 per cent of their income on rent and food.
McGregor’s motion asks council to declare food insecurity an emergency and to support the advocacy of the Chatham-Kent Food Policy Council. It also calls on the provincial and federal governments to raise social assistance rates, establish a guaranteed livable basic income, and make food insecurity reduction a component of government policy.
If approved, copies of the motion would be circulated widely, including to provincial and federal ministers, local MPPs and MPs, municipal associations, and Ontario municipalities.
The motion is on the agenda for the Monday, Sept. 8, 2025 council meeting.
