A GTA paralegal will provide pro bono legal services to people caught stealing groceries
Jeramy J. Silverstein’s offer comes as more than one in 10 Torontonians now rely on food banks
It’s no secret that Toronto’s cost of living is unsustainable for many. Even with rents coming down, more and more people rely on food banks—according to Feed Ontario’s 2025 Hunger Report, more than a million Ontarians visited a food bank in the past year.
In Toronto, more than one in 10 people depend on food banks because they cannot afford groceries, according to a report from the Daily Bread.
It shouldn’t surprise us, then, when people resort to stealing from grocery stores. One GTA paralegal has decided to support those who find themselves in this tough position by offering pro bono legal services to first-time offenders who are caught stealing groceries out of necessity.
Jeramy J. Silverstein, who has been practising as a paralegal since last March, told CTV News that his experience volunteering at a Mississauga food bank inspired him to use his legal knowledge to help. “I see people coming in, and they don’t have the access to food that they should. We’re talking about everybody from different walks of life—people you wouldn’t even think would rely on food banks are relying on food banks now,” he said.
In court, he heard a case involving an elderly man who had stolen small grocery items. “He was charged for theft and it was a can of tuna and a loaf of bread,” Silverstein told CTV News. “He looked so defeated and ashamed. I’ll never forget the look, because that could have been anybody. That could have been my grandfather.”
Canada’s Food Price Report for 2026 recently projected that Canadian families will spend up to $994 more on groceries in the coming year and categorized a quarter of Canadian households as food insecure.
Silverstein told CTV that he’ll be focusing his pro bono efforts around holidays. “If this does well for Christmas, I am going to be doing it again for Thanksgiving,” he said.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
