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Every year, Food Banks Canada, a national charity organization, releases a report card grading Canada's poverty crisis and how the government is handling it. While some sectors improved in the 2026 release, Canada failed across the board, with poverty worsening, and the government failing to properly aid at-risk Canadians. The report analyzed the experience of poverty in Canada, poverty measures enacted by the government, material deprivation, and legislative progress. The massive, 144-page document analyzed Canada as a whole, as well as each province and territory individually. Food Banks Canada is a national charity organization run by a board of directors and acts independently of any government. The data source for this report is a Pollara online survey of 6,820 adult Canadians conducted March 6–21, 2026. Weighted to reflect the Canadian population per Statistics Canada census data.
Canada's overall grade
Canada's overall poverty grade actually increased in 2026, rising from a D in 2025 to an impressive D+ for 2026. While that grade wouldn't get Canada into any college programs, the country could at least graduate with a metaphorical high school diploma this year. Canada took small steps forward in some areas, according to the report from Food Banks Canada, but the country's grades are still in the toilet for the most part. Some highlights included a slight rise in standards of living, but Canada failed outright in six different categories, scoring more ‘F's than most Canadian students see in a lifetime.
It's robust methodology, and now that we've done this report for four years, we've got some comparable data.
Kirstin Beardsley, CEO of Food Banks Canada
Experience of Poverty: D
The section on Canadians' experience with poverty showed marginal increases in some areas, while others continue to be deemed a failure. The section polled Canadians on five questions: do you feel worse than last year; do you spend more than 30% of your income on housing; do you have trouble accessing healthcare; do you receive government support, and is it sufficient; and what percent of your income do you spend on fixed costs other than housing.
In 2026, 39 per cent of Canadians claimed to feel worse off financially than they did in 2025. While that number is frightening and high, it's actually a decrease from last year. Food Banks Canada gave that section a C+, and it was one of the only poverty indicators that improved from 2025 to 2026. Canada failed the next three categories, with ‘F's across the board. 42 per cent of the population is spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent. Nearly a quarter of Canadians are struggling to access healthcare, and 66 per cent of government support recipients claim their benefits are insufficient to live on.
As we start to see unemployment rise across the country, we're very concerned as food banks that we can't absorb another wave of folks who lose their jobs and find out they don't qualify for EI.
-Kristen Beardsley
Poverty measures: F
Canada failed all three categories in the ‘poverty measures' section, but the grades went unchanged from those in 2025. Canada currently has a poverty rate of 11.1 per cent, and while that is justified as an F to Food Banks Canada, it's a similar rate as France and the United Kingdom. Germany, Japan, Italy, and the US all have higher rates of poverty than Canada. Canada's unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent also scored an F, and it falters when compared to the rest of the G7. Only France has a higher unemployment rate than Canada in the G7.
Canada's food insecurity percentage rose to 24 in 2026, and it compares poorly against G7 countries. According to international reports, Canada has the highest food insecurity rating in the G7. Canada's rating is seriously impacted by its size and climate, with remote and rural communities suffering in the face of lacklustre government support. New Brunswick has a food insecurity rating of nearly 30 per cent, and Ontario and Manitoba both scored more than 26 per cent in the category as well.
Material deprivation index: B-
Canada scored comparatively well in the material deprivation section. Only 19 per cent of the polled population believed their standard of living was severely inadequate, and only 28 percent believed it was inadequate at all. The province of Quebec boosted the category, boasting impressive scores compared to the rest of Canada. Quebec scored an A- overall in the category, the only overall grade above a B+ on the report. While Canada's B- was the only remotely acceptable grade on the country's report card, it still meant that nearly 50 per cent of the population is unhappy with their standard of living.
Legislative process: C
Canadians were reportedly OK with their country's legislative process this year, with Food Banks Canada giving a grade of ‘C'. While the overall grade was positive, the grades per province showed some unrest among Canadians. The province of Quebec had far and away the most positive report card overall, but serious legislation changes tanked its score in this category. In 2025, Quebec was graded a B in the legislative process. In 2026, that score dropped to a D. It was the most significant drop of any category in the report. Quebec's new secularism law is almost certainly at the root of the change, with critics and Quebec residents likening the law to fascism, racism, and hate. The law disproportionately affects Muslim Canadians, and even with 45 per cent of the province disagreeing with the law, it has already been put in place.
