Almost 111,000 food bank visits in the London area: Feed Ontario

London's four federal political ridings saw almost 111,000 food bank visits in 2018. The data was compiled by Feed Ontario (formerly the Ontario Association of Food Banks) with a goal of letting politicians know that hunger is in their own back yards.

• Food bank map helps politicians see hunger in their own backyard

The breakdown includes the total number of visits in each riding, the number of individuals that went to a food bank and a further breakdown indicating whether the visit was an adult or a child.

The "Hunger Map" reveals almost 10,000 children in the London ridings were among those who required a food bank to meet their needs.

Breaking down the London ridings

London North Centre:

• 34,765 visits
• 8,383 individuals
• 5,463 adults
• 2,920 children

London West:

• 21,896 visits
• 4,845 individuals
• 2,857 adults
• 1,988 children

London Fanshawe:

• 45,348 visits
• 9,959 individuals
• 5,759 adults
• 4,200 children

Elgin Middlesex London:

• 8,842 visits
• 2,422 individuals
• 1,609 adults
• 813 children

'Too many falling through the cracks'

"I'm a little dismayed," said Kate Young MP for London West. "In a country as rich as Canada, the thought that anyone is going and has to turn to a food bank is troubling."

Young said the Liberal government is taking steps to address poverty. She cites the national poverty reduction strategy with a goal to reduce poverty by 20% by 2020, a national housing strategy and an increase earlier this month in the CanadianChild Benefit to help families keep up with the cost of living.

But, she said, the federal government can't address the problem alone.

"What we're seeing is that there are a lot of people falling through the cracks because they're on some of the provincial funds," she said, citing programs such as the Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works.

"Those are the people that are really hurting and aren't able to feed themselves. That's why we need the province to really do their part to help with this,"Young said.

'Stop the blame game'

London-Fanshawe NDP MP Irene Mathyssen is equally troubled by the numbers.

"It's incredibly disturbing," she said. "To know that so many people in a city that's supposed to be so prosperous are in such dire straights."

After almost 19 years as both a provincial and federal politician, Mathyssenagrees all levels of government have a role to play but she doesn't accept the Liberals pointing a finger at the province.

"We're back and forth with the blame game," she said. "I am tired of the shifting of responsibility. It comes down to, if you want to be the government act like a government that cares. Act like a government of the people. Act like a government that uses the choices it has for the best interest of everyone."

Mathyssenaccuses both the Liberals and Conservatives of favouring tax havens for the wealthy over helping Canadians in need, a practise she said costs $40 billion dollars a year.

"Forty-billion dollars. Can you imagine what that would do in terms of helping people in our communities?"