Exploring Food Insecurity using Financial Literacy

Due to the supply issues resulting from the pandemic, Ontarians have seen a rising cost of food and it looks as though it will continue for the foreseeable future¹. In fact, the average family household of four will pay an extra $966 for food in 2022, according to the most recent edition of Canada’s Food Price Report². The rising costs of food puts more households at risk of food insecurity.

As I began researching why food prices vary, it became clear that remote communities, typically with high populations of Indigenous peoples, endure food prices that are even higher. Food insecurity rates are significantly higher in remote communities with no year-round road access to a service centre³. High food prices paired with income inequality puts households at even greater risk for food insecurity.

Using mathematics to understand food insecurity can concretely highlight factors that influence one’s ability to access food. It also provides a foundation to explore potential solutions. More specifically, teaching children about financial literacy can show students that there are financial implications tied to income, taxes, and even price discrepancies as they shop at the store.
 

Making concepts of financial literacy relevant to children

The new Ontario Math Curriculum⁴, revamped in 2020 to include the study of financial literacy in the elementary grades, includes learning about money concepts, financial management, and consumer and civic awareness. Before children experience responsibility for earning a stable income, buying groceries, and managing their own money, attempts to make money management relatable may be ineffective. Moreover, having students examine their own lives – say, by creating a budget for a week’s worth of groceries – may highlight socioeconomic differences among students’ families, potentially leaving students feeling uncomfortable. 

A section of the Financial Literacy strand of the Ontario Math Curriculum focuses on consumer and civic awareness. It includes an expectation that students learn “different ways to distribute financial and other resources among individuals and organizations.” The costs of food is an excellent starting point for exploring the ways this essential resource is distributed, as well as the impact food insecurity has on lives. Food insecurity is “the inability to acquire or consume an adequate diet quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so,” as defined by the Government of Canada⁵. By looking at communities that experience food insecurity, students can learn about how money is transferred between people or organizations, along with the costs of transactions, taxes, budgeting, and the impact of subsidies.

To study food insecurity in remote First Nation communities, I have developed three lessons that focus on collecting, visualizing, and comparing food price data. Students will understand the basics of taxes, including how rates vary from item-to-item, and they will consider the influence geographical location has on the total cost of the item. They will determine for themselves whether solutions, such as subsidies, provide adequate support to make food accessible to Canadians living remotely in Northern Ontario.
 

Food Insecurity Related Lessons

While food insecurity is evident among many households, colonization and the trauma of residential schools has made Indigenous people more susceptible to income inequality, higher food prices, and thus, food insecurity. Despite these great challenges, Indigenous people continue to be resilient by regaining control of their culture, language, and land. Many Indigenous people harvest, hunt, and fish to provide food for their families and to share with their community. Other communities have started co-ops⁸ as a way to control businesses in their communities. By understanding financial management and money concepts, students are better positioned to examine ways to support Indigenous people and other households in overcoming food insecurity.