National food assistance program
Petitioners ask the House of Commons to create a national food-assistance program that ensures low-income, disabled, single adults without children can access adequate, nutritious food. The government responds it has introduced measures (Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, Canada Disability Benefit, automatic federal benefits) and will continue evaluating short- and long-term solutions.
Why we would sign this petition
- Would extend government-funded, regular access to nutritious food for low-income disabled adults living alone, addressing gaps that force reliance on inadequate food banks.
- Better nutrition could prevent health decline, reduce health-care costs, and improve quality of life for people forced to choose between food, medication, or housing.
- A national program could include delivery and tailored supports for those with mobility limits, agoraphobia, or isolation who cannot access food banks.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- A federal program’s cost and delivery complexity could be high and risk duplicating existing provincial supports and food-security measures.
- Setting eligibility to avoid disincentives and fraud is difficult; modest income thresholds may unintentionally exclude or penalize some people.
- Improving coordination with provinces and territories or enhancing existing local programs might be more effective than creating a new federal program.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled Canada has no national food assistance program accessible to single, low-income, disabled adults without children, leaving many at risk of chronic food insecurity and malnutrition; hunger negatively affects physical, mental, and emotional health, especially for disabled individuals managing chronic illness or trauma; support programs like AISH, ODSP, and CPP-D often fail to cover both living costs and nutritious food, forcing many to rely on food banks, which may offer expired or nutritionally inadequate items; many cannot access food banks due to mobility issues, agoraphobia, lack of transportation, or isolation; single adults without children are often excluded from food assistance, despite facing the same impacts of poverty, disability, and hunger; choosing between food, medication, or housing leads to declining health, greater healthcare costs, and deepening poverty; even modest income can disqualify individuals from aid, discouraging self-sufficiency; access to adequate food is a basic human right under international law, and Canada’s current system fails to uphold that right for all; We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to to create a national food assistance program that includes low-income, disabled, and single adults without children, ensuring access to adequate, nutritious food for all.
Government response
Response by the Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario Signed by Annie Koutrakis The Government recognizes that many Canadians are feeling the pressures of everyday expenses and need relief right now. Affordability pressures, especially those related to food, require immediate support for Canadians. It is important to acknowledge that income security and social programming is a shared responsibility across different levels of government. As such, the federal Government recognizes the importance of working with provinces and territories to find solutions to common challenges. The Government has introduced a number of recent measures that help Canadians offset the rising cost of groceries. For example, in January 2026 the Government announced the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, formerly the Goods and Services Tax Credit, which includes a one-time payment, equivalent to a 50% increase this year, as well as a 25% increase to the benefit amount for five years beginning in July 2026. Combined, this means that a family of four will receive up to $1,890 this year, and about $1,400 a year for the next four years; and a single person will receive up to $950 this year, and about $700 a year for the next four years. The new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit will provide significant additional support for more than 12 million Canadians. Through Budget 2025, the Government also introduced the Automatic Federal Benefits initiative, starting in the 2026 tax year, that is estimated to reach up to 5.5 million low-income individuals by the 2028 tax year to ensure they receive the benefits for which they are eligible. By helping families access essential supports, this initiative complements broader affordability measures, such as the recent introduction of the legislation to reduce middle-class taxes, saving two-income families up to $840 a year beginning in 2026. In June 2025, the Government of Canada successfully launched the Canada Disability Benefit, a new monthly benefit providing up to $2,400 per year in direct income support to low-income persons with disabilities aged 18 to 64, with the benefit amount based on income. Payments began in July 2025. The Canada Disability Benefit is indexed to inflation and adjusted each July. For the July 2025 to June 2026 payment cycle, the maximum monthly amount is $200. The Canada Disability Benefit is intended to supplement existing provincial and territorial income-support programs for working-age Canadians with disabilities. To lower barriers in accessing the Canada Disability Benefit, Budget 2025 announced that the Government will offset the costs of applying for the Disability Tax Credit by providing a supplemental Canada Disability Benefit payment of $150 for each Disability Tax Credit certification or re-certification resulting in Canada Disability Benefit entitlement. These payments will be made to current and past Canada Disability Benefit recipients and are expected to be paid before the end of 2026-27, following the successful completion of a regulatory process to amend the Canada Disability Benefit Regulations. The Government of Canada also released Opportunity for All – Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2018. The strategy recognizes food insecurity as a critical dimension of poverty and sets out a bold vision for Canada as a world leader to eradicate poverty, aligned with the first United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty in all its forms. Grounded in Canada’s official poverty line, the Strategy established ambitious and concrete targets: a 20% reduction in poverty by 2020 and a 50% reduction in poverty by 2030, relative to 2015 levels. Results from the 2023 Canada Income Survey released in May 2025 show that between 2015 and 2023, poverty in Canada fell by nearly 28%. These recent actions build on significant existing investments in social programs and income supports, such as the Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the Canada Workers Benefit, which provide support to low-income individuals, persons with disabilities, and single adults without children, enabling them to decide how to spend their money, reducing financial burdens and improving their access to essentials, including nutritious food. The Government of Canada will continue to evaluate approaches to tackling food insecurity in Canada and help design short- and long-term solutions for those in need.