Tariffs stir fear in Food Banks Mississauga CEO as stretched organization faces its latest challenge

“Are prices going to go up on things that we regularly purchase for clients and so we'll have to buy fewer of them? Are there donations that we usually get that people aren't going to be able to give because their money is tied up, or because of their own fears and concerns about their personal finances?” 

As the CEO of one of the largest food banks in the country, these are the concerns Meghan Nicholls wrestles with as a trade war has suddenly added to the list of stresses she navigates every day.  

“In the midst of all these challenges for the food bank, all the tumultuous activity happening in the economy just brings a certain amount of fear for us,” Nicholls told The Pointer. “It's a scary time to anticipate. There's going to be job losses in our community, combined with people no longer able to make donations.”

It remains unclear what impacts the latest U.S. tariffs, or those imposed in response by Canada, will have on prices at the grocery store, heightening the uncertainty for community service providers like Food Banks Mississauga, which is connected to the deeply integrated food supply chains between the two countries. Prepared foods and beverages were among the top five products exported in Ontario last year, accounting for approximately $15 billion worth of goods exported to the U.S., while food products from California to Ontario accounted for $2.16 billion (US) in trade last year.

Food Banks Mississauga, which relies predominantly on generosity and donations from residents and businesses in the community, has several ties to American-based companies, a connection that could have a direct impact on the organization’s operations. 

“Many of our corporate donors are owned by an American company, or they're the Canadian division of an American company,” Nicholls said. “So sometimes there are corporations where their philanthropy is managed by a U.S. office or by their philanthropy team in the U.S., so there are times, yes, we are anticipating there could be some donations that we no longer receive because of all the changes in the U.S.”

"It's something we're preparing for. Food Banks Canada, our federal association, is working with the federal government and hoping to put in place programs that will ensure food banks, as we pick up the slack in our community, are supported to do that. So we're watching very carefully what happens there to ensure that there's not unintentional consequences for the food banks.”

Food Banks Mississauga CEO Meghan Nicholls is concerned about the impact the Canada–U.S. trade war will have on her organization.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer files) 

Food Banks Mississauga used to need less than $3 million in donations from the community each year for operations, but that number has increased significantly to almost $9 million now needed. Meanwhile, the amount of donations the organization receives has decreased as cost of living pressures impact people’s ability to give. 

Now, the latest trade war between Canada and the U.S. is placing further strain on the already challenged organization, which recently underwent an internal restructuring “to ensure long-term sustainability.” 

After exhausting every option, Food Banks Mississauga recently had to make the “painful decision” to reduce its paid workforce by 16 percent and ultimately cancel two programs – a decision that “wasn’t made lightly,” Nicholls said. Organization officials said the reshuffle was “the only path forward” to avoid decreasing the food available to individuals and continue to provide meals for the over 56,000 Mississauga residents who rely on its services.

“It's difficult. We want to provide the best service we can for our network of programs and for the community, but that requires resources to be able to do it,” Nicholls said. “To have to make cuts when you're trying to do more for people kind of feels like having to move backwards, but we have to be responsible as an organization to ensure that we have the financial resources now and going forward.”

It is a distressing reality that the organization’s CEO, and other food banks in the province and nation-wide, have been warning for years. 

“I remember a couple of times in 2024 saying we were going to have to make tough choices in 2025 if things didn't change, and it was incredibly frustrating that we still landed there, even with the warnings,” Nicholls said. “The fact that no government body at the provincial or federal level is responding to this is concerning. It's beyond concerning, it's infuriating. Every other province in Canada, every single territory, has made an investment in food security coming out of the pandemic, except Ontario.”

Earlier this month, the Alberta government announced a $5 million investment in food security as part of its 2025 budget to support organizations that operate food programs such as food banks and other community service providers. The funding is set to be divided across 113 food banks across the province, which averages to roughly $44,000 per organization. 

Meanwhile, residents in Ontario have seen no policy changes or investments to address the number of people legislated to live below the poverty line. Food Banks Mississauga, like all food banks across the province, has also received no government funding to help support the increasing number of clients coming through the organization’s doors each month, despite seeing the highest increase in food bank usage across Canada last year.  

Though the increases have steaded to single digits monthly, which Nicholls said has been more manageable for the organization, there was a point when the organization was documenting double digit increases in the number of clients it was serving month over month. While Nicholls and other advocates have stressed the dire need for more support from elected officials, those calls have repeatedly been ignored, particularly by a government that has made clear through policies and other priorities, that it is largely out of touch with the current reality in Ontario. 

“We can't provide the service that we provide for the residents of Ontario without the financial resources to do it and so here in Mississauga it's going to be that much harder for us to do what we need to do, having cut back on our human resources.”

“Ontario is failing at citizens, absolutely failing at citizens.”

Food Banks Mississauga is anticipating that it will serve over 100,000 residents by 2027 if there is no policy change from upper levels of government.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer files) 

In the last half decade now, Food Banks Mississauga has been reporting record breaking numbers, with 1 in 13 Mississauga residents now relying on a food bank. The alarming number is a product of the climbing cost of living coupled with social assistance programs that have not kept pace with almost 200 percent more people using the food bank now compared to before the pandemic. Last fall, Food Banks Mississauga revealed it is projecting the organization will serve 100,000 visitors by 2027 – almost double the current number of over 56,000 residents, translating to 1 in 7 residents in the city relying on food banks by that year. 

“We will never turn anyone away. There will never be a segment of the population that we will say is no longer eligible to use the food bank ever. But it will be that if more people continue to come and we can't continue to grow our resources, that the amount of food per person will go down,” Nicholls said. “At this point, we're not doing any of that, and we're keeping an eye on the numbers and continuing to try and grow our revenue and where we get our donated food from, and we anticipate being able to keep up on that front.”

Food bank officials have criticized all levels of government for neglecting poverty and food insecurity issues that have joined forces to amplify what has become a systemic issue. While the demand continues to outpace resources available to these organizations, it has forced food banks across the country to increase capacity year over year to fill the gaps created by upper level of governments’ failure to prioritize adequate investments into social assistance programs that would help lift some of the most vulnerable out of poverty.

While Food Banks Mississauga has built up reserves over years of operations, the organization has been drawing from those savings every month to offset the fact that the costs are more than the revenue. It is a strategy Nicholls said is not sustainable long term. Though the organization received another pot of funding from the Region of Peel during its latest budget period, that money only accounts for one percent of the food bank's annual resources. With the Region’s over budget approval for 2025 experiencing delays as a result of the frustration over the Peel Police budget increase for the year ahead, as well as an anticipated redesign of the community service fund, Nicholls said the organization will not actually receive the funding that was approved until at least September. 

Acknowledging the scale of the crisis, the City of Mississauga declared food insecurity an emergency last fall and the cities of Toronto and Kingston have since followed suit. The Ottawa Food Bank has also announced a decrease in food provision, with the food programs that work with the organization’s network set to receive 20 to 50 percent less food than it has in previous years. 

While Nicholls said there are no more layoffs planned currently and that the organization does not anticipate having to make more cuts, she warned the organization will need to grow its annual revenue or significantly offset its expenses to get back to a place where it could bring back its previous structure. Right now, Food Banks Mississauga is bringing in roughly $7 to $8 million a year in revenue, but requires approximately $10 million annually, reflecting a nearly 20 to 30 percent increase, to meet the need.

“What we need is people to understand the scale of this issue,” Nicholls said. “Food banks can't keep up. Food pantries can't keep up. Our neighbors can't keep up.”

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock 

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