This group works to tackle food insecurity — because its members know what it feels like

With households across Newfoundland and Labrador feeling the crunch of an increased cost of living, some folks are having to make difficult decisions at the grocery store — and a group of mothers who know how that feels is working to change that.

Kayla Dillon of Lethbridge says she sees the increased cost of food every time she goes to the grocery store.

"I'm anxious to see that final number [at the cash register] because it seems like the things I bought six months ago are almost double in price," Dillon told CBC News. "It's a lot of stress internally."

She often wonders how she'll be able to afford groceries, rent and heat, and she knows she's not the only person in her community who has to make tough budgetary decisions.

"It's not just me. I hear from so many people struggling. It's the same conversation."

Dillon is a member of Food First N.L.'s Lived and Living Experience Advisory Group — a team of people from all areas of Newfoundland and Labrador who have experienced food insecurity in some capacity. They work toward destigmatizing food poverty and look for solutions to the barriers to accessible food.

There are many layers to food insecurity, including access, affordability and availability of culturally appropriate foods, say LLEAG members — and the barriers to food security extend beyond the rising cost of living.

Finding culturally appropriate food is a major problem for many people in Newfoundland and Labrador, says Elizabeth Saunders of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

"Culturally appropriate food is necessary for Indigenous folks in this province," she said. But cultural foodways are not practised as often in Labrador as they used to be, she said, because of, for example, a dwindling caribou population and the effects of climate change. The loss of culturally significant food has many effects, she said.

"If it's not available, that has many layers of impact, from food insecurity to mental health," said Saunders.

Sa'adatu Usman of St. John's, a new Canadian and a member of LLEAG, says newcomers to the province also often struggle to find culturally appropriate foods.

"In my culture, canned food is not food. Whole food is food," said Usman, who is from Nigeria. "We want food that people can eat."

In many areas of the province food banks try to help fill the gaps.

According to the Vital Signs report produced by the St. John's-based  Community Foundation N.L. and Memorial University's Harris Centre, more than 15,000 Newfoundland and Labradorians visited food banks last year.

LISTEN | Members of the Lived and Living Experience Advisory Group discuss tackling food poverty in Newfoundland and Labrador:

The Signal55:02Parents talk poverty and food insecurity in N.L.

Today's show is about families, poverty and the cost of living. Host Adam Walsh speaks with moms from an advisory group on food insecurity drawn from across Newfoundland and Labrador.

The members of LLEAG say food banks are essential for many families, and more people than ever need that stopgap measure. 

Dillon has experienced food insecurity for herself but was hesitant to use the food bank.

"I could not bring myself to go to the food bank and accept that I needed help," she said. "There was shame involved." 

Usman says food banks are doing what they can but she thinks the system can offer more nutritious options and dignity to the families who use them. 

"We need a system where people can walk in with dignity and pick out the food that they can eat," she said.

Usman says she joined LLEAG to give a voice to her community.

"I bring with me, the voice of so many people, the voice of the newcomer, the voice of migrant woman, the voice of a cultural woman, the voice of a mother, the voice of someone who is in a new place without family support."

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