Our methodology combines geographic accessibility analysis with socioeconomic indicators, adapting the peer-reviewed approach developed by Huda et al. (2025) for Mississauga, Ontario to the Regina, Saskatchewan context.
A food desert is a residential area that meets two criteria:
Q5 = lowest 20% income (most deprived)
Material & Social Deprivation Index. Q5 = highest material deprivation
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation. Q5 = highest economic dependency
Compiled from the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region (RQHR) Food Asset Map, geocoded using the City of Regina ArcGIS Geocoder. Stores are classified by category rather than NAICS codes (which were unavailable for Saskatchewan businesses).
Full-service retailers offering fresh produce and nutritious food options
Halal, Cultural, Small Grocery Stores — often higher-priced and specialize in products for specific communities rather than general grocery needs
REACH Good Food Box, Community Food Pantries — not retail locations
Farmers' Markets — limited operating hours and days restrict reliable access
Note: The original Mississauga study used NAICS codes from a business directory. NAICS data is not available for Saskatchewan in Statistics Canada's Open Database of Businesses.
For each validated grocery store, we generate a 15-minute walking isochrone using the Valhalla routing engine. This creates a polygon representing all areas reachable within a 15-minute walk, accounting for actual road networks, sidewalks, and pedestrian paths.
{
"locations": [{"lon": -104.6189, "lat": 50.4452}],
"costing": "pedestrian",
"contours": [{"time": 15}],
"polygons": true
}All individual store isochrones are merged (unioned) into a single walkable area geometry. This represents all residential areas within 15 minutes of any grocery store.
Geographic Food Deserts (GFDs) are calculated by subtracting the walkable area from residential zones:
GFD = Residential_Areas − Walkable_AreaOnly residential zones (from City of Regina zoning data) are considered. Industrial and commercial areas are excluded because no one lives there.
Socioeconomic quintiles are calculated locally within Regina DAsrather than using provincial data. This ensures we identify relative deprivation within the city context, with approximately 20% of DAs in each quintile.
Food deserts are identified by intersecting the Geographic Food Desert layer with DA polygons in the most deprived quintile (Q5) for each indicator:
Earlier research using a more conservative 750-metre walking threshold found significant disparities in grocery access across Regina neighbourhoods, with roughly one in four having no walkable food access at all. While methodologies differ, the concentration of food retail in specific areas of the city remains a persistent structural feature.
Source: Sask Trends Monitor (2012), cited in Qualman et al. (2013)
This analysis focuses on retail grocery access within the conventional food system. It does not capture access to traditional Indigenous foods, which are typically distributed through informal networks—family connections, sharing, and travel to traditional territories—rather than retail channels. A 2013 environmental scan noted a “nearly unbroken horizon of research gaps” regarding Indigenous food access in Canadian cities. With approximately 10% of Regina's population identifying as Indigenous, this represents a significant dimension of food security that warrants dedicated future research.
Context drawn from: Qualman, D., Sanden, T., Desmarais, A.A., Marsden, D. & Hansen, Y. (2013). Environmental Scan: Conventional & Indigenous Food Systems and Gaps in the Regina Area, SK. Regina, Saskatchewan.
Regina's harsh winters with snow, ice, and extreme cold significantly reduce practical walking distances for many residents. A 10-minute walking threshold may be more appropriate during winter months than the 15-minute standard used here.
Low-income residents often lack access to vehicles, and public transit adds time and cost. Walking distance is particularly important for these households, making the 15-minute threshold a meaningful but conservative measure.
Census data (2021) and grocery locations represent point-in-time snapshots. Conditions may have changed.
Census data is collected via 25% sample and aggregated to DA level, so it may not reflect individual households.
This analysis covers retail grocery access. It does not capture traditional Indigenous food systems, which operate through informal sharing networks rather than retail channels.
Grocery stores just outside Regina's boundary that serve edge neighborhoods are not included.
Huda, T., Wang, A., Zhang, H., Guo, L., Zhang, T., & Huang, Y. (2025). Identifying food deserts in Mississauga: A comparative analysis of socioeconomic indicators. Urban Science, 9(7), 265.
View original paperUse our interactive map to explore food deserts in Regina, check your address, and see how different indicators reveal different patterns.
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