This text is part of the special public school notebook
As social innovation is growing in Quebec, the province could play a leading role in Canada by proposing a universal school food model. However, this is not the case, despite the aid promised byOttawa to accelerate the implementation of such a program.
Shortly before tabling its 2024-2025 budget, Ottawa announced that it wanted to enter into agreements with the provinces and territories to establish a national food program in Canada’s schools. The envelope released, of approximately $1 billion over five years, aims to provide meals to 400,000 more children per year in the country. According to Anne Plourde, researcher at the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information (IRIS), this announcement remains insufficient. “We are also the only G7 country not to have a national school feeding program,” she points out. However, the establishment of a framework law will perhaps make it possible to develop programs in the country. Newfoundland and Labrador is the first province to follow suit, recently announcing a $9.1 million agreement with Ottawa over three years to improve access to school meals.
Quebec, for its part, is lagging behind, despite its social innovations such as early childhood centers or advantageous parental leave. According to a study carried out by the team of Mme Plourde, such a program in the province would cost approximately $1.7 billion per year, with an initial investment of $289 million for infrastructure and additional funding of $113 million per year for food education and sustainable procurement components . “In this study, we calculated the cost of a universal program for Quebec without taking into account possible funding from the federal government. The cost of $1.7 billion is the maximum, and it is that of a truly comprehensive program that would also cover the cost of mealtime care for elementary school children. We also include the cost of organic and local food as well as a viable income for the program workers,” explains the researcher.
The IRIS team recommends financing the program with the Generations Fund. “By taking half of the payments, we could finance the universal school feeding program. The needs are significant, and there are public health issues since poor nutrition has long-term consequences,” indicates the researcher. According to IRIS, $190 billion is spent each year in Canada to treat diseases associated with poor diet.
There are also environmental aspects, according to her. “It’s a program that can be very structuring if we allocate part of the funding to local food; it becomes a way of supporting the agricultural economy,” she explains. IRIS thus calculated that if 30% of foodstuffs were purchased from local farmers as part of such a program, this would represent annual benefits of $184 million for agriculture in Quebec.
The example of Finland
Anne Plourde often gives the example of Finland, which has implemented a universal feeding program in its schools. “This type of program brings great benefits, particularly in terms of academic perseverance and in terms of public health,” she says. This also helps avoid the stigma that sometimes results from a program targeting only the most disadvantaged children. “We have noticed that, sometimes, people will deprive themselves of it so as not to be associated with the stigma linked to poverty,” notes the researcher.
Such a program would also provide a component of food education, according to Mme Plourde. “This would make it possible to educate young people about the effects of diet on health, and we could instill good eating habits in children from a very young age,” she emphasizes. Currently, IRIS has calculated that the Quebec Ministry of Education only devotes 0.35% of its budget to food aid programs. In Finland, 6% of the budget is devoted to it. “There is therefore quite a lot of room for maneuver, we could do much better than what we are currently doing,” she concludes.
Free school meals in Nova Scotia
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