A survey released Wednesday indicates that Canadians’ use of charitable services to meet their basic needs increased this year compared to last year.
The Ipsos survey conducted for CanadaHelps, an online donation platform, specifies that 24% of Canadians needed these charitable services this year to meet needs such as food, housing or health services, including 42% who were aged under 35.
The growing demand for charitable services for basic needs, which has increased by 2% since last year, is mainly fueled by the rising cost of living, it can be observed.
The organization Food Banks Canada recalls that the use of food banks has reached the highest levels in Canadian history in 2023, with nearly two million visits in a single month.
Of the 20% of Canadians who currently use charitable services to meet their basic needs, 69% say this is the first time they need access for necessities like food and shelter.
The results of the survey specify that 54% of help seekers cite the increase in the cost of living, 23% a mental health problem, 23% a physical health problem, 19% job loss, 17% the caregiving, 10% domestic violence and 9% fighting addiction.
Furthermore, the survey indicates that more and more Canadians plan to give less to charities than before. Donations are expected to increase among younger age groups, however, with 31% of 18-34 year-olds saying they will give more this year, compared to 13% of 35-54 year-olds and just 6% of those 55 and over.
The Ipsos poll was carried out between October 20 and 25. A sample of 1,001 Canadians aged 18 and over was surveyed. Ipsos says the accuracy of its online surveys is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.