Parkdale Food Services

Written By Craig Swistun

Season 2, Episode 1

AUDIO-ONLY PODCAST AVAILABLE HERE

Ottawa's Parkdale Food Centre is fighting food insecurity in a different way. Rather than distributing hampers of pre-collected food, they allow their neighbours to select foods that are culturally significant or that cater to specific dietary needs. In this way, they operate more like a community grocery store than a traditional food bank.

More information can be found at: https://parkdalefoodcentre.ca

Sources:

  • Ottawa Food Bank suggests there are 98 groups helping with food security in the Ottawa area. https://www.ottawafoodbank.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Ottawa-Food-Bank-Year-in-Review-2023-2024-EN.pdf

  • A University of Toronto study on food security confirms there are approximately nine million food insecure people in Canada, of which two million are children. https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/

  • The first food bank in Canada was opened in Edmonton in 1981. https://fbyr.ca/article/a-walk-down-memory-lane-history-of-the-food-bank/

  • According to Canada Revenue Agency, the group received 11.84% of its budget from government funding. Roughly 88% could be considered “grassroots”.

  • According to Canada Revenue Agency, 2.83% of all funding received by Ottawa Food Bank was from government.

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Craig Swistun