As children file into schools across British Columbia this week, many arrive with empty stomachs that will remain unfilled throughout the learning day. This stark reality is prompting a growing chorus of advocates to intensify their calls for a comprehensive national school food program – a measure they argue is long overdue in Canada, the only G7 nation without such an initiative.
“Every day we see students who simply can’t focus because they haven’t eaten,” says Maria Gonzalez, principal at Eastview Elementary in Vancouver. “It’s not just about hunger – it’s about creating equal opportunities for learning. A child who hasn’t eaten breakfast faces an immediate disadvantage.”
The movement for universal school food programming has gained significant momentum in recent months, particularly as inflation continues to strain household budgets across the country. Food Banks Canada reports a 32% increase in usage since 2019, with families with children representing one of the fastest-growing demographics seeking assistance.
B.C. advocates point to the province’s existing patchwork of school meal initiatives as evidence of both the need and potential for a coordinated national approach. Currently, approximately 30% of B.C. schools offer some form of meal program, but access, quality, and consistency vary dramatically depending on location, funding sources, and local priorities.
“What we have now is essentially a postal code lottery,” explains Dr. Amina Ibrahim, researcher at UBC’s Food Security Institute. “Your child’s access to nutritious meals at school shouldn’t depend on which neighborhood you live in or which province you call home.”
The federal government has previously signaled interest in developing a national framework, allocating $1 billion in the 2022 budget toward exploring implementation models. However, concrete action has been slow to materialize, leaving provinces to continue developing their own approaches with limited coordination.
“This isn’t a partisan issue,” says Michael Thomson, coordinator of the School Food Coalition of B.C. “We’ve seen successful programs implemented under governments across the political spectrum. The evidence for return on investment is overwhelming – better attendance, improved academic outcomes, reduced healthcare costs down the line.”
Indeed, research from jurisdictions with established programs suggests that every dollar invested in school nutrition returns between $3 and $10 in long-term societal benefits through improved educational outcomes, reduced healthcare costs, and increased workplace productivity.
The calls for action come as Canada faces mounting concerns about food insecurity. A recent Statistics Canada report indicates that 18% of Canadian households with children experienced some form of food insecurity in the past year, with that number climbing to nearly 29% in single-parent households.
Critics of the national program concept point to implementation challenges, questioning whether federal coordination would be more effective than locally-tailored approaches. Budget constraints also remain a significant hurdle, with preliminary estimates suggesting full implementation could require annual investments between $2.4 billion and $4.8 billion.
Supporters counter that these costs must be viewed as investments rather than expenses. “We’re already paying for the consequences of child hunger and malnutrition,” notes Dr. Ibrahim. “We’re just doing it through healthcare spending, remedial education programs, and lost productivity.”
As global food security concerns intensify, the question increasingly becomes not whether Canada can afford to implement a national school food program, but whether it can afford not to. With children back in classrooms across the country, the timing of these discussions takes on renewed urgency.
In British Columbia, grassroots efforts continue expanding local programs while advocating for broader systemic change. “We’ll keep feeding the children in front of us,” says Principal Gonzalez, “but we’ll also keep asking why, in a country as prosperous as Canada, this responsibility falls to overworked educators and community volunteers rather than being enshrined as a fundamental right.”
As our national conversation about food security continues, we might ask ourselves: In a country that prides itself on social equity and evidence-based policy, how much longer can we justify being the only G7 nation without a comprehensive approach to ensuring all students have access to nutritious food during the school day?
