Local school board officials are “very excited” about the federal government’s five-year, $1-billion plan to introduce a national school food program, but argue even more needs to be done to address food insecurity in local schools.
Announced on April 1 as part of the upcoming federal budget, the program aims to provide meals to an additional 400,000 children per year beginning in the 2024/25 school year.
“There were some very excited trustees when the announcement was made,” said Jodi Lloyd, Simcoe County District School Board chairperson. “I certainly would have liked to see a bigger investment. This is to target 400,000 students, and that's across the country, so that's a very small portion.”
Prior to the announcement, the school board sent a letter calling for a national school food program to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, which highlighted that 6.9 million people across Canada’s 10 provinces — including 1.8 million children — live in households currently struggling to afford food.
As the federal government talked about developing a national school food program in 2019, Lloyd felt it was prudent to send the letter, given increased need in recent years.
“I think we saw rapid inflation during the pandemic; we’ve seen housing costs that are really out of control, and I think wages have not kept up with that,” she said.
“It is putting immense pressure on families, in particular young families raising children," said Lloyd who represents Orillia, Ramara and Severn on the school board. “Some parents don't send their children to school on the days that they can't send a lunch for them, so we are hoping to remove that stigma.”
In her letter, Lloyd argued a national program could enhance learning, promote general health and well-being, reduce stigma, and support families by alleviating financial strain.
“If you're not well fed, and you're not getting nutritious food, you don't learn, right?” she said. “One of our responsibilities as trustees is the well-being of our students, and if students aren't well fed it doesn't create good learning environments. We want to see a program that develops over time.”
Currently, Lloyd said school food programs vary widely from school to school, and jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Although there are some government funds available, Lloyd said programs often rely on volunteers and multiple funding sources to deliver nutritious meals to students.
“The need has been there for a long time, and these programs are very dependent on volunteers, very dependent on donations, very dependent on multiple funding sources,” she said. “We were the only G7 country without a program like this, and that's quite shocking to me.”
The need for a national program extends well beyond post-pandemic inflation experienced in the last few years, she said.
“These programs have been working and trying to be self-sufficient for over 20 years, and dependent on fundraising and dependent on donations and inconsistent funding,” she said. “To stabilize it is incredibly important, and I think it's been needed for 20 years, quite frankly.”
Lloyd said it looks as if the federal government will work with provinces, who will then distribute their allocated funds to roll out the program.
Although she said the program will look different across different parts of the province and country, working with existing local programs could provide a successful path forward — such as The Sharing Place’s School Fuel program, which already provides healthy food to 23 local schools in Orillia and area.
“We're a pretty vast area, some rural, some urban, so the same program won't necessarily work in every community. I think we need to work with the resources we have within our communities,” Lloyd said. “The program at The Sharing Place is unique. It's an exceptional program, and I think we have to work with those who can do the job and do it really well.”
