Since my retirement from Radio-Canada, I no longer have this duty of reserve and I can associate myself with causes that are close to my heart. I actually have a hard time with poverty, life having particularly pampered me. I wish others had the same chance. I worry about the combined effects of the housing crisis and inflation on struggling families. At the beginning of December, a Léger survey indicated that one in three Quebecers (32%) had experienced food insecurity in 2023. Do we know that around us, in all regions of Quebec, thousands of children are arriving to school on an empty stomach?
We have no right to remain insensitive to such an intolerable situation. This cause is priority and non-negotiable: feeding our children. I knocked on the door of the Breakfast Club to find out what they were doing there. The club has existed for nearly 30 years and is now present in more than 500 schools in disadvantaged areas, from Montreal to Natashquan, including Nunavik. To date, more than 79,000 children can have lunch thanks to the club and thus optimize their ability to learn.
I visited the club’s warehouse in Varennes. I visited schools in rural and urban areas. I spoke to volunteers, employees, teachers. I am amazed by the depth of the organization, the dedication of the people, and the impacts of such commitment on children and families.
When the Breakfast Club arrives at a school, the students’ lives change. They have more sustained attention; their curiosity is aroused; anxiety decreases; inappropriate behaviors, such as acts of violence, decrease. Teachers, staff and the entire school team also benefit. This more harmonious climate is more conducive to teaching, learning and educational success. But there are still nearly 670 primary and secondary schools welcoming 180,000 children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Quebec who still do not have access to a breakfast program.
The Breakfast Club has always believed that feeding children is everyone’s business. It is also financed by the generosity of businesses and individuals — and the support of the Quebec government, whose commitment must be saluted, which made it possible to add more than 200 schools and 36,000 children between 2018- 2019 and 2023-2024. Also, during last November’s economic update, the government granted a special contribution of five million dollars due to the soaring cost of living. We must not stop there; the club has the operational capacity to join 500 other schools and feed 75,000 more children every morning within five years — and to offer this equity to children from disadvantaged backgrounds — if the government gives it the financial means.
In his first inaugural speech, in November 2018, Prime Minister François Legault declared: “Our great ambition is to give each of our children the means to reach their full potential. » That’s exactly what it is. Lunch to be in a position to learn, to discover yourself, to realize yourself, to one day participate in your own way and to the extent of your dreams, in the progress of society. Education is a permanent, ongoing, perpetual social project, and it begins with a full stomach.
Sometimes audacity is recognizing the obvious. In an era losing its bearings, this is a line that political power can draw. The housing crisis and inflation will not be resolved quickly. The pressure will continue to be strong on families. Let’s not hesitate. We need a fist on the table and a strong voice: we will not let the children of Quebec go hungry.
Would this not be a lasting legacy of a government of vision?