One in eight Toronto children now relies on a food bank, Who's Hungry 2026 finds — 4.1 million visits for a second straight year

By The Canadian Chronicle · Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Community · Toronto · The Canadian Chronicle

Published Wednesday, November 4, 2026 · 3 min read

One in eight Toronto children now relies on a food bank. That is the central finding of Who's Hungry 2026, the annual report on poverty and food insecurity released Tuesday by Daily Bread Food Bank.

The numbers

Toronto recorded 4.1 million food bank visits in 2026. It is the second consecutive year visits have passed four million, and a 333 per cent increase since 2019.

The child figure has moved fastest. One in eight Toronto children relying on a food bank is nearly double the rate of one in 15 recorded in 2022.

Returning clients now account for 84 per cent of all food bank visits, up from 47 per cent just two years ago. The report reads that as need becoming long-term rather than temporary: people are coming back, more often, for longer.

Who compiled it

Who's Hungry is Daily Bread's annual study of poverty and food insecurity in Toronto. It draws on data from Daily Bread's network of 220 food banks and food programs across the city, together with North York Harvest Food Bank.

The report sets out recommendations for every level of government. Its release was marked on Tuesday night, when the CN Tower and the Toronto Sign at Nathan Phillips Square were lit in Daily Bread's colours of yellow and green.

What it asks of the city

Daily Bread directs readers to its published recommendations and asks residents to press their member of Parliament, member of provincial Parliament and city councillor on them. The full report and its recommendations are published on Daily Bread's site under Who's Hungry 2026.

The figures land one day before the federal budget. Whether Thursday's affordability measures reach the families in these statistics is a test the Chronicle will follow from the budget tables to the food bank lines.