Moisson Laurentides serves 162,541 food assistance requests every month across the North Shore and surrounding regions. That’s a staggering number on its own, but it’s even more impressive when you consider the size of the territory they cover. The Laurentides stretches across more than 20,700 km² and is home to nearly 600,000 residents.
That’s a lot of mouths to feed.
With the increasing costs of living and the current tariff war between the United States and Canada, more and more people are turning to food banks just to get by.
For the Executive Director of Moisson Laurentides, Guillaume Richard, the goal is to help as many people as possible.
“The question is how can we find common ground with everyone,” said Executive Director Guillaume Richard. We need to become a solution, a movement, opposed to a bunch of separate organizations living in a silo.”
Serving the Laurentians for almost 40 years
For nearly 40 years, Moisson Laurentides has been the backbone of food assistance in the Laurentides and MRC Les Moulins. Working with close to 125 community organizations, it helps get food to tens of thousands of people every month. As food insecurity continues to grow, the organization serves as a vital link between donors, volunteers, community groups and the residents who rely on food assistance.
While food banks have traditionally been associated with people living on social assistance, Richard says the profile of those seeking help has changed dramatically in recent years.
“Of all the people who come see us, 24% of them have full-time jobs,” said Richard.
According to Moisson Laurentides’ latest figures, more than one-third of those receiving food assistance are children.
“We see it because it’s a lot of young families now. Roughly 11,000 kids per month eat because of food banks in the region. It doesn’t make sense anymore.”
This is not something that we have seen in the past 10 or 15 years. According to HungerCount 2026, their findings concluded that as of March 2026, there were 2.35 million total visits to food banks in Canada, the highest number on record. Another alarming stat is that food bank use has more than doubled to almost 117% since March 2019.
“The face of hunger has completely changed. I don’t see how we’re going to respond in the short term,” he said.
Housing is a major issue
Richard says rising housing costs, transportation expenses and inflation have made it increasingly difficult for many households to make ends meet, even when parents are working full-time.
Housing remains one of the biggest challenges facing residents across the Laurentides, according to Richard. As of early 2026, the average price of a single-family home in Quebec stood at roughly $511,850, while the average condo sold for approximately $288,000. At a mortgage rate of 4.5%, that translates into monthly payments of around $1,281 before property taxes, condo fees, insurance and utilities.
On paper, those figures may seem manageable. In reality, housing is only one expense competing for a family’s budget. Between mortgage or rent payments, groceries, transportation, childcare and other day-to-day costs, many Laurentides residents are finding themselves living paycheque to paycheque.
“Most of the time you need a car in the Laurentians. A car and housing? It doesn’t always work out that way,” said Richard.
He argues that governments need to tackle the root causes of food insecurity rather than relying on food banks to absorb growing demand. Places like Moisson Laurentides are duly equipped, but they won’t be for long if this pace keeps up.
“Politicians need to keep supporting food banks,” he said. “If the social safety net is poorly supported, now we keep growing. And we grow, and we grow, it’s not normal, we’re not supposed to handle growth.”
Community makes a difference
Meeting that growing demand requires more than simply collecting donations. Behind the scenes, Moisson Laurentides relies on a dedicated team of employees and volunteers who work every day to ensure food reaches those who need it most.
From its distribution centre, food is received, sorted, stored and redistributed to nearly 125 partner organizations across the Laurentides and MRC Les Moulins. Richard says the operation would not be possible without the many full-time and part-time volunteers who donate countless hours to the cause.
“We have people who are here every single week because they genuinely want to help their community,” said Richard.
That commitment extends well beyond volunteers. Richard says Moisson Laurentides has built a strong network of support that includes local businesses, community leaders and major corporate partners who regularly contribute food, funding and resources.
“We have CEOs of major companies who pick up the phone and ask how they can help,” he said.
Richard says that level of community involvement has allowed Moisson Laurentides to continue expanding its reach despite record demand. Whether it’s volunteers sorting donations, truck drivers collecting food or business leaders making financial contributions, thousands of people play a role in supporting the organization’s mission.
For Richard, those contributions demonstrate that while food insecurity remains a growing challenge, the willingness of people to step up and help remains one of the region’s greatest strengths.
