Hour 2 of Ottawa Now for Fri. January 10th, 2025

The Ottawa Food Bank has started off 2025 with a rather sobering announcement. CEO Rachael Wilson says the city’s biggest day-to-day lifeline is cutting donations to 98 food programs across Canada’s Capital. These projected cuts over the next 12 months will be as high as 50 percent. In 2023, their associated agencies saw over 550,000 visits in just 365 days. And in October of 2024, they saw a record-breaking 50,000 visits in a single month. But as Wilson tells Kristy Cameron in Hour 2, this grim reality has little to do with a lack of community donations, and more to do with various levels of government overlooking a glaring food insecurity red flag. Meantime, things are not looking good in California right now, as 10 people have lost their lives due to the ongoing wildfires. This massive blaze has engulfed blocks of neighbourhoods in the state, and firefighters in Los Angeles are hoping that the high winds will take a breather in the coming hours. If they don’t, things could get even worse. AMTI Management Director Angie Sakla-Seymour joins the show with her vantage point.