The food desert is a sector offering poor access to food stores (grocery stores, supermarkets and public markets), i.e. a distribution area (AD) in which residences are located on average more than 1 kilometer from a food store in urban areas and more than 16 kilometers in rural areas, and characterized by very high material deprivation (quintile 5). Accessibility to food stores is a quantitative measure used to assess the geographic ease of access with which individuals or populations can access food stores (grocery stores, supermarkets, and public markets) from where they live. For more information on the food desert index, you can consult * [Identifying Food Deserts] (https://www.inspq.qc.ca/boite-a-outils-cooperative-alimentaire/identification-deserts) *.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

Over the last year, Statistics Canada (StatCan) and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) have collaborated on the implementation of a set of proximity measures to services and amenities. CMHC funded this collaboration to generate data and analytical work in support of the National Housing Strategy. The result of this collaboration is the first nation-wide Proximity Measures Database (PMD). This database is now available as an early release to meet urgent information needs of departments and other stakeholders across Canada who are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. The current situation involving COVID-19 emphasizes the importance of having timely and accessible information available to the public at all levels of government. Proximity measures developed for this project are relevant to the current situation by providing a wealth of information (at the granular level) in terms of proximity to health facilities, pharmacies and other essential services/amenities that can be used to make rapid informed decisions at different geographical levels. WARNING: This map contains detailed data which makes it heavy to load. To improve loading time, please uncheck the "Proximity measures" group from legend at loading, then load only the desired thematic.