Amid Food Insecurity, Now is the Time for a National School Food Program

Food bank usage across the country is at its highest level since 1989, according to Food Bank Canada. We know that people are struggling to put nutritious food on their tables, and its affecting everyone. Large grocery chains like Loblaws are raking in record profits while Canadian families deal with the fallout of their greed. PROOF, an interdisciplinary research program that examines household food insecurity in Canada, shows that 17.8 percent of households are currently dealing with food insecurity, including almost 1.8 million children under the age of 18, in 2023. I think its safe to suggest that it’s time Canada puts in place a National School Food program.

National food programs aren’t really a novel idea. In fact, Canada is the only G7 country without a National School Food Program. France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, and even the U.S. have some form of national school food program that ensures some degree of basic nutrition for our vulnerable youth. School lunch programs are not all created equal, however. France, for example, makes school meals comply with specific health criteria, and limits the amount of fat, sodium, and sugar placed in food. In Italy, their school lunch program requires the sourcing of locally produced organic food. The U.K. and the U.S. have been roundly criticized for their school food programs, and while it’s fair to be concerned about the quality of the food provided, at least they have national programs in place. They may be imperfect but can be improved upon. In Canada, we currently have a patchwork of provincial programs, charitable organizations, and local initiatives that ensures our children can go to class fed, at least for those lucky enough to have access to said programs. Too many students don’t even have that.

While it’s obvious any national program would need to be administered by the provinces, as they have jurisdiction over education, the federal government has a responsibility to show leadership by working with the provinces and territories to implement a national program to ensure uniformity across the country. A well-implemented program would feed students nutritious food, save parents money (particularly the most economically vulnerable), and support Canadian food producers.

While the government has promised $1 billion towards the program over five years, details will matter, and that’s what we need to be looking for in next week’s federal budget. In fact, the Liberals promised a National School Food program five years ago, in their 2019 budget. Part of this program may just mean augmenting already existing school food programs, or helping provinces implement their own. This should be a model of cooperation between the federal government and their provincial counterparts, as it shouldn’t be difficult to find some degree of middle ground when it comes to ensuring future generations have enough to eat during the school day.

There does seem to be a mostly broad consensus around a national school lunch program. In December, MPs voted on a Private Members Bill (C-322) which seeks to develop a national framework to establish a school food program. While the bill itself may be redundant depending on what’s in next week’s budget, it did receive support from all parties except for the Conservatives, who seem to talk a big game about affordability but don’t seem to have much interest in providing support for the most vulnerable children in the country.

While the Prime Minister is touting that the program will provide meals to an additional 400,000 children across the country, the details of the budget measures will matter more than the broad stroke promises.

The program will need to fill those gaps in school nutrition programs that exist. It’s unfathomable how, in a country as rich as ours, that we still have some children who go to school hungry while grocery giants like Loblaws rake in record profits on the backs of the most vulnerable.