This brief highlights new research on food assistance from the edited volume Income Volatility and Food Assistance in the United States, published in fall 2008 by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Income volatility, that is, periodic fluctuations in household income, has increased...

Canadians living in households that experienced food insecurity (insecure or inadequate access to food because of financial constraints) during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly more likely to perceive their mental health as fair or poor and to report moderate or severe...

To mitigate the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the federal government has implemented several financial assistance programs, including unprecedented funding to food charities. Using the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series 2, the demographic, employment, and behavioural...

This is an infographic summarizing Canadian Community Health Survey data on food insecurity. V=Food insecurity - the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints - is a serious public health problem in Canada. It negatively impacts physical, mental, and social health, and...

This is a brief and infographic on policy recommendations relating to food insecurity in Canada. Food insecurity is rooted in material deprivation, with low income being the strongest predictor. Research has demonstrated reductions in food insecurity where social policies have improved the material...

This is a graphic and brief from the PROOF research group. Food insecurity - the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints - is a serious public health problem in Canada. It negatively impacts physical, mental, and social...

In a country as wealthy as Canada, close to a million people need food banks just to make ends meet each month. Why have we not seen any significant change to this situation after so many years, and after so much has been written about hunger? HungerCount 2014 uncovers the hard data on food bank...

This brief summarizes research into the theories underlying financial coaching and the effects of financial coaching on participant behaviors and outcomes. In practice, financial coaching remains an unregulated field, and individuals and organizations use the term “financial coaching” to refer...

Food insecurity – inadequate or uncertain access to food because of financial constraints – is a serious public health problem in Canada, and all indications are that the problem is getting worse. Drawing on data for 103,500 households from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health...

This report provides quantitative and qualitative data about the experience of hunger and poverty in Toronto during COVID-19. Based on phone surveys with over 220 food bank clients in May and June 2020 and an analysis of food bank client intake data, the report demonstrates that COVID-19 has led to...

This report illustrates the hidden impacts of food insecurity in people’s lives through a survey of 561 people in 22 communities across Canada. The people interviewed shared that food insecurity makes them ill, breaks down relationships, makes it harder to get stable work, and fully participate...

Spanning over four decades, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is the world’s longest-running household panel survey. The resulting data archive presents research opportunities for breakthroughs in understanding the connections between economic status, health and well-being across...

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) co-hosted the 2018 National Research Symposium on Financial Literacy on November 26 and 27, 2018 at the University of Toronto, in partnership with Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR). This report presents the key ideas and takeaways from...

Population health survey data are not routinely linked to specific health care organizations, limiting organizational capacity to assess performance improvements in relation to the observed risk and prevalence of differences in health. The lack of demographic information hinders the growth of...

This infographic explains the impact of food insecurity on health in Canada. Food insecurity - the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints -  negatively impacts physical, mental, and social health, and costs our healthcare system...

Over the last few years, the demand for financial counseling services has remained high, outpacing the availability of services at the Financial Empowerment Centers and from other organizations that offer individualized counseling. With this in mind OFE embarked on a new effort in 2012: to build...

Grande Prairie is not unique from other communities in that poverty and its effects can pose a challenging obstacle in the journey towards sustainability. In recognition of the need to address poverty within the community, Grande Prairie’s Community Action to End Poverty (CAEP) Committee was...

The Who’s Hungry Report provides quantitative and qualitative data about the experience of hunger and poverty in Toronto. To create the reports, trained volunteers conduct face-to-face interviews with over 1,400 food bank clients at nearly 40 member agencies, collecting demographic data as well...

The purpose of this report is to provide policy makers, supervisory agencies, researchers, industry stakeholders and the general public with a systematic analysis and broad understanding of the trends related to the banking fees levied on consumers’ deposit accounts in Canada. The principal...

Mobile payments (m-payments) are an important aspect of mobile banking, which is a form of retail financial services that is growing rapidly around the world. Canadian consumers are increasingly migrating away from branch-based banking towards online and mobile banking. Research suggests that the...

We still have limited understanding of many issues regarding asset–building policies. What is the role of asset–based approaches in addressing poverty and social exclusion? What does the evidence tell us regarding the advantages and limitations of asset–based policies? What are the...

Improving people’s financial circumstances has never been more critical. Disadvantaged population groups have experienced even higher levels of financial strain and poor financial wellbeing during the pandemic. This has negatively impacted their physical and mental health. To support efforts to...

The health and economic crises brought on by the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has made the federal nutrition programs more important than ever. An unacceptably high number of people in America do not have enough to eat, and it is likely that the economic recovery for families who struggle...

The Review of Financial Literacy Research in Canada highlights past and current advancements in financial literacy research (produced by government and non-governmental stakeholders) while identifying existing gaps within the financial landscape. The overriding goal is to help strengthen the...

USAI Research Framework takes its acronym from the four principles of ethics that guide it: Utility, Self-Voicing, Access, and Interrelationality. The Framework delineates the preferred research methodology, called “orientation to research”, to encompass various research practices that are...