In an e-mail statement, Saskia Rodenburg, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada, said a national policy would build on “existing efforts,” and Ottawa would work with provincial and territorial governments and Indigenous communities.
Outside of that, however, provinces have provided incremental increases to school food programs, nowhere near the cost of inflation. And Ontario has remained consistent in its core funding of $28-million since 2014 even though the cost of food has increased, although there have been one-time top-ups during the pandemic.
She said the federal government can’t afford not to act. “These programs are vulnerable, and they have a huge health impact on our children.”Healthy snacks from the Tastebuds food program at Cathy Wever Elementary School.The daily nutrition program costs $11,000 a month and is administered by the non-profit Hamilton Tastebuds.
“Sometimes the program is the meal, and sometimes it supplements the meal,” she said. Feeding children is “just part of the reality right now,” Ms. Kurtz added. The daily nutrition program costs $11,000 a month and is administered by the non-profit Hamilton Tastebuds. The organization allotted $75,000 to the school this year to spend on food.School food advocates say providing nutritious meals is not only about feeding children who come hungry to school but also about setting all children up for a healthier lifestyle.
The group serves about 140,000 meals over the course of a month to schools mostly located in St. John’s but also as far as Gander, which is about 300 kilometres away. Families pay what they can, with a suggested price of $4 a lunch . A typical meal could include lasagna, garlic naan, vegetables and fruit salad with milk or water. Another day, children are served chicken fajitas with roasted potatoes, carrot sticks and mandarin oranges.
Ms. Steeves keeps the non-perishable extras of the day in a classroom cupboard, so she can offer a fruit cup, for example, to a student who may need it.The organization relies on funding from the province, but also from the sale of its food. “Before the pandemic, I don’t know if we ever used our line of credit. And now, if we don’t use it, we would have to lay off staff or shut down programs,” he said of the rising costs of food and fuel.
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