National school food program met with cautious optimism in B.C.

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A federal program to provide $1 billion over five years for school lunches was greeted with enthusiasm by advocacy groups and experts on Tuesday, although all cautioned the devil will be in the details when those are released in the federal budget on April 16.

The target is to feed 400,000 more Canadian schoolchildren, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said when he announced the program on Monday.

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“This is an historic and important announcement for Canadian children and families,” Jennifer Black, an associate professor of food, nutrition and health at UBC, said. “Food programs should be part of school.”

The federal government has yet to iron out particulars with provincial and territorial governments over how the program will work.

Research suggests one in six B.C. families worries about the cost of food, and one in 20 Canadian children eat no lunch on school days, Black said.

Across the province, 75 per cent of school districts have meal programs, but because funding is unreliable they often rely on volunteers, “scrappy moms,” or charities.

Last year’s provincial budget committed $214 million over three years for B.C. school districts to create or expand food programs in a program called Feeding Futures.

The Vancouver Sun’s Adopt-A-School program, meanwhile, distributed a record $2.3 million in 216 grants to schools across the province during the recently completed winter campaign, topping the previous year’s record $1.9 million.

Of those 216 grants, 195 were to provide food to children identified by teachers as coming to school hungry each day, said Harold Munro, Vancouver Sun editor-in-chief and chair of the board that administers the Adopt-A-School program.

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“The number of schools applying for money to help feed children continues to grow year after year,” he said.

Since 2011, the program has sent almost $14 million, raised through donations by Sun readers, to schools to feed and clothe impoverished children.

Monday’s federal announcement came after decades of lobbying by various groups.

“It’s just fantastic news, and we’re awaiting to learn more through the budget,” said Samantha Gambling, project coordinator for the B.C. chapter of the Coalition for Healthy School Food. “The need is so great.

“Basically, we enthusiastically welcome this investment in a national school food program. It has been a combination of 30 years of advocacy leading up to this point.”

Having the federal government involved means replacing the existing patchwork of programs offered across the country, Gambling said.

Also, with grocery costs soaring, a lot of the previously existing programs haven’t been able to accommodate additional students.

As others also pointed out, feeding schoolchildren healthy food does a lot more than fill them up — it’s hard to focus on grammar or math when your tummy is growling.

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“We know that students who have access to healthy food at school not only lead healthier lives but also have an advantage educationally and they have better academic outcomes,” Gambling said.

Viveca Ellis, executive director of the Centre for Family Equity (formerly the Single Mothers Alliance), said the school food program is long overdue.

“This is so exciting, it’s fantastic news,” she said. “We are well on our way to building a school food system in B.C., and this federal investment is much needed and really sets a high standard across the country.”

There are many details to be resolved, including how programs are staffed and food sourced, but one of the things about a universal program is it doesn’t single out disadvantaged children, Ellis noted.

When children whose families can’t afford to fulfill their nutritional needs, or arrive at school with no lunch at all, there is a whiff of shame attached when they are directed to a separate eating area, she said, which is why her group advocates for a program that includes everyone.

The Centre for Family Equity along with the Coalition for Healthy School Food and Food Secure Canada carried out recent research with low-income parents whose children already use school food programs to gauge their experiences.

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“We heard from a lot of passionate (low-income) parents how important these programs are, that this type of program has a huge impact on their health, their nutrition, their food security, and on their children’s ability to learn with equitable access to food throughout the school day,” Ellis said.

“What we also heard was some low-income children who need school food programs refusing to participate in the programs because they didn’t want to sit at a table in the corner of the lunchroom to have lunch.”

gordmcintyre@postmedia.com

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