The low utilization rate of oil patch drilling in Canada led to a staggering 67,443 hungry people seeking assistance from the Canadian food banks which is a 23.4 percent increase compared to March of 2014.
Alberta was among the major cities affected according to reports.
Alberta Food Bank executive director Stephanie Rigby said that the numbers are significantly higher in March however; the situation in the succeeding months was not improving either.
Due to the overwhelming increase in the number of visitors per year, the association was forced to seek help from neighboring members.
Fort Murray's Wood Buffalo food bank was mainly affected by the recession. In October alone, reports claimed over 70 percent increase in visits compared to that in 2014.
Arianna Johnson, the association's executive director said, "we've had a lot of layoffs here."
She also added that many people had been laid off from work, overtimes were cut and bills such as mortgages still need to be paid.
Since the economy is in its toughest, selling their houses was not ideal as well.
Wood Buffalo food bank initiated additional fund raising activities in response to the increasing demand. They also sought help from Alberta food banks and other private organizations.
Johnson said, "We take care of ourselves. We take care of each other, and when the food bank says 'Our increase is this and we're running out of this,' all of a sudden our donation bins that are in grocery stores have the things that we're out of or have the things that we said we really need the most that week."
Though the community donations were great, she added that the main focus is to get to the root of the problem and determine why more people are turning to food banks.
According to Rigby, the Canadian government as well as the food banks should think of ways to cope with the changing and fragile economy to avoid further recession every time oil price drops.
