Food Dignity & Disability: New documentary exposes harsh realities
On December 4, 2025, the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights (JHC) hosted a discussion and film screening of the documentary Food Dignity & Disability. Produced by the Self Advocacy Federation (SAF) with the support of the JHC, the film aims to demonstrate how AISH recipients must manage external influences that impact the ability of people to get food that meets their dietary needs.
Watch the full documentary here - closed captions are available!
Guest speakers from the Self Advocacy Federation — Keri, Kavin and Alex — shared their personal experiences, insights, and the current realities of folks living with disabilities. Keri also shared the challenges faced by agencies like Self-Advocacy Federation, who have lost critical funding, and the impact that has had on their capacity to support community. What follows are key themes that emerged from the discussion.
Food insecurity as a disability and poverty issue
AISH and other disability benefits are far below a living wage, leaving people constantly choosing between rent, food, transportation, and medication. Speakers describe the “poverty tax” of disability:
Paying more for accessible transportation (which is often unreliable) to buy food
Limits on how many grocery bags can be brought on accessible transit
Extra costs for medical forms, co-pays, late fees, and very little extra supports to supplement folks with dietary needs
Inflation and rising food costs are making already tight budgets even less sustainable. According to Canada’s Food Price Report 2026 released by Dalhousie University, Food prices are 27% higher than they were five years ago, and there are predictions that Canadian families will spend up to $994 more on food next year. Disability benefits have not been adjusted for this, and currently, one-quarter of Canadian households are considered food insecure.
Lack of dignity, choice, and barriers to accessibility present across various systems: Food, housing, healthcare, shelters
Speakers emphasized that “food security” isn’t just about calories; it’s about dignity and choice. It goes beyond survival and allows folks to access food with dignity and choose food that will support their health, which is an incredibly important priority especially since folks with disabilities often have chronic health conditions.
The current food system and supports available are often inflexible and do not utilize holistic or dignified methods. Speakers pointed out some examples, including:
Little or no accommodation for allergies, celiac, diabetes, halal, ARFID (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder) and various other diets.
Limited culturally appropriate foods available
Stigma and shame tied to accessing supports
Our speakers highlighted barriers they have experienced in various environments, including shelters, healthcare, and group homes. These revealed systemic barriers that affect dignified accessibility and inclusivity. Some examples highlighted physical inaccessibility for those who have affected mobility or use wheelchairs, lack of supports on-site, being dismissed or even barred from certain locations due to missed appointments or because needs are “too intensive”. Speakers noted that group homes, shelters and support agencies often are ill-equipped to meet basic food needs, especially for those with dietary restrictions, leaving people hungry, improperly fed, or folks pretending to eat to avoid conflict with support staff and guardians.
Obtaining Disability Benefits is demanding, time-consuming and draining
Many folks in the audience were unaware of the amount of time, bureaucracy, and hoops that community members face when applying for low-income or disability supports. Constant paperwork, reporting, and medical forms, alongside lengthy and bureaucratic processes are incredibly demanding and time consuming, leading to community members feeling drained, invalidated and frustrated. There were also concerns raised that healthcare providers invalidate disabled people’s knowledge of their own bodies or denying their disability, making health access emotionally draining and dehumanizing.
“In terms of…the overall paperwork load, like, especially because I have a lot of complex health problems, so I’m constantly having to fill out paperwork and go to appointments for that, and honestly…It feels like a really crappy job that I didn’t sign up for, that I didn’t even apply for, and I can’t quit. I would much rather be spending my time doing something that I’m passionate about, that actually enhances the system instead of fighting with the system.”
One shocking experience shared by one speaker was that folks receiving benefits can face severe penalties for receiving inheritances, savings, or even financial gifts.This applies even when funds are placed in supposedly protected instruments (like retirement savings or trusts). This can lead to clawbacks of essential supports, like special diet allowances, or further restrictions or removal of benefits altogether. The emotional toll can not be understated in these situations, when people are navigating all this while grieving or dealing with complex trauma while worried about whether they will be able to survive.
Another speaker spoke of the experience during COVID, where chances to AISH payment dates and rent calculations resulted in disabled community members being at risk of real harm and dangerous situations (e.g., risk of eviction, transportation costs, late bill payments, etc.).
Finally, cutbacks to organizations’ funding are leaving folks without critical supports and resources in their communities to navigate these bureaucratic systems, leaving many frustrated, lost, and left to navigate these alone.
Community support and mutual aid as lifelines
Community-focused, holistic and inclusive models and mutual aid were identified as lifelines to key resources and supports, both during COVID and currently. These included models that offer:
Grocery store type food banks that allow dignity and choice, or pay-what-you-can markets
Free meals and culturally-grounded programming
Peer and community supports for system navigation and advocacy
Opportunities to grow food and connect with community through community gardens and mobile grocery services, meal delivery, and subsidized food baskets
In Edmonton, organizations like Meals on Wheels, grassroots mutual aid, Self-Advocacy Federation and Voices of Albertans with Disabilities were all highlighted. In Calgary, The Alex Community Food Centre has been a beacon for many
Speakers also emphasized that Informal support from family, friends, neighbours, community and mutual aid is often what actually keeps people fed and emotionally afloat, bridging the gaps where disability benefits fall short.
Intersectionality of Poverty & Food Dignity as a Human Right
Speakers notably shared other intersectionalities related to food justice and disability, including:
Housing precarity
Newcomer experiences and culturally appropriate food availability
Queerness, inclusivity and dignified access
One participant called out how poverty and disability are treated as a “billion dollar business”, leaving those most vulnerable and within the disability community are kept in chronic scarcity. Indigenous, Black, racialized, and ethnocultural communities — along with people with disabilities — have long understood the deep inequities embedded in Canada’s food systems, because they have lived through generations of exclusion and systemic oppression. Reckoning with food access in Canada requires recognizing how colonization, racial discrimination, ableism, and the deliberate disruption of community foodways have intersected over time. The impacts of land dispossession, forced displacement, institutionalization, exclusion from economic and social systems, and the erosion of traditional food sovereignty continue to shape present-day barriers to nourishment and wellbeing. These intertwined histories reveal how those most marginalized by colonial and ableist structures continue to bear the heaviest burdens within today’s food systems — and why restoring food sovereignty must be rooted in justice, accessibility, and self-determination.
Imagining better systems & calls to action
Speakers were asked to reflect and propose calls to action and better approaches:
“Nothing about us without us” – decision-makers must listen to disabled people as the experts of their own lives and needs.
“Listen to us! Because we are the experts in disability, because we actually live with disabilities. Like, it's not about playing guesswork, or just coming up with, like, these blanket solutions that they think are best for us. We know what's best for us, so nothing about us without us.” - Alex
Try and listen to that individual and see if they can speak up for themselves (in healthcare and other spaces)…[just] because someone has been diagnosed with a condition, or whatever, or has a guardian, doesn't mean they lack the capacity. - KavinRaise disability income support to at least living wage levels, index it to cost of living, and regionalize to reflect regional variability.
Stop clawbacks for both individuals and organizations supporting the disability community. Fund mental health, housing, and advocacy supports.
Ensure protected savings (RDSPs, small inheritances) truly remain protected.
Fully implement and strengthen the Canada Disability Benefit and broader basic guaranteed income supports - this will ensure both folks with disabilities and various other vulnerable groups, such as ethnocultural and Indigenous peoples, low income families and seniors aren’t forced to live in poverty.
Build dignified, accessible, culturally appropriate food systems models, envisioning
Grocery-store-like food banks with choice, allergen-safe options, and cultural foods.
Support mobile grocery programs and delivery options and accessible community gardens/food forests.
This was one of numerous sessions to mobilize knowledge from the community to inform the work of the Food Security and Food Justice Edmonton Collaborative supported by the City of Edmonton Community Safety and Well-Being Grant. We would also like to acknowledge this session was additionally funded by the Alberta Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities in commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD)which falls yearly on December 3. Finally, we want to extend our gratitude to our interpreters, Brianne and Tara, who provided ASL interpretation services through Deaf & Hear Alberta.
Additional resource from the JHC: Check out our Action on Ableism Toolkit to learn more, help address barriers, and integrate tools for social change into your daily life!