Many Canadians take more than 15 minutes to get to their nearest grocery store, report says

Sobeys location in Toronto (Canadian Grocer).

By: Rishika Verma

A new report shows that long travel distances and lack of transit reliability are the challenges that many Canadians face when accessing their nearby grocery stores and other services.

According to Statistics Canada, one-third of Canadians take public transportation to go to their closest grocery store, 20 per cent take their bike, and 30 per cent get to the store by walking. 

“To get to the nearest store, it takes me about ten minutes,” said Angela Ko, a first semester student in the Art Fundamentals program at Seneca Polytechnic.

Angela Ko, a Seneca Polytechnic student in the Arts Fundamental program

Ko says that although she lives in an area where there are a lot of small convenience stores that she can get to by a short walk, they don't have everything or what they do have are sold in a small packaging.

“If I wanted to get lactose-free milk or anything specific, I would have to go to a bigger store and I could walk there, but it would take more than 15 minutes,” she told S@Y News.

StatsCan data obtained from 2022 in collaboration with the Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada  found that almost 63 per cent Canadians had access by public transit to a grocery during rush hours while 62 per cent did not have access to a bus during off-peak hours.

“The store I go to makes me have to transfer buses a couple of times, but it's nice that it's accessible because it’s so heavy to carry everything back home,” Ko said.

She says that she sometimes has to depend on her sister or friend to give her a ride to the Superstore when she needs to get heavy items like rice bags which are 25-50 pounds.

The lack of accessibility to retail stores sparks the idea that Ontario urban planners should implement the 15 minute concept like some cities around the world.

The 15-minute city concept and its origin

The 15-minute city is a urban planning concept that means that community and shopping amenities can easily be reached within 15 minutes by foot, biking, and public transportation from any point of the city.

The concept has come from the historical ideas about proximity and walkability such as former urban planner Clarence Perry’s neighbourhood unit that had inspired Carlos Moreno, a Franco-Columbian researcher and scientist, for the 15 minute city.

“Cities have tried to implement this [concept] for a long time but there is a challenge,” says Dr. Christopher De Sousa, a professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Dr. Christopher De Sousa, professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)

 

“The challenge is often the community supporting the retail component and people’s preferences to drive and load up from big box retailers,” Dr. De Sousa told S@Y News.

Dr. De Sousa is a Registered Professional Planner, a member of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute and the Canadian Institute of Planners, according to the Toronto Metropolitan University website.

‘There are other options’

According to StatsCan data presented on their website, people with disabilities such as mobility, dexterity, and flexibility disability face barriers when accessing entrance and exit doors at grocery stores. For those who take public transit, there was only a slight improvement in access from the 2020 and the 2022 report.

“It's important that we address these accessibility challenges so that folks can access the stores. That said, one can also order everything to their homes via Voilà and Amazon, there are many options like online retail stores that families can depend on,” Dr. De Sousa said.

He argues that it's not really a concern that Canadians live far from grocery stores and people can choose if they want to drive or get their groceries delivered, and if it affects a person’s quality of life, then they can move to a community with walkable options. 

 

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