Today, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, announced that the Government of Canada will be launching a national school food program. This announcement comes in the wake of increased political discussions around access to nutritious, accessible meals for children in Canada and the impacts that healthy food can have on education and well-being. The announcement outlined a plan to implement national level support for school food programs, dedicating one billion dollars over five years to feeding an additional 400,000 children annually in addition to those already accessing existing programs. Outcomes from this funding are set to roll out as soon at the 2024/25 school year.

Also present at the announcement were Laura Arrell, a director from the Arrell Family Foundation, and Amberley Ruetz, a School Food Researcher and former Arrell Scholar. Both the foundation and Amberly have dedicated significant work to demonstrating the benefits of nutritious food for students, and this announcement is a welcome step-forward in their years of qualitative research supporting a national initiative for accessible food for children in Canadian schools.

As a member of the Canadian Food Policy Advisory Council, AFI’s Director Evan Fraser responded to the announcement, saying

“This is an incredible step forward for Canada in meeting standards already set in many other wealthy countries. Canada is now positioned to strengthen the relationship between every student in Canadian schools and the food that must continue to meet increasing demand. Not only will this benefit the physical and mental well-being of children across the nation, it will also shape local, provincial, and national food systems to better support nutrition and best practices that will help to feed the world. I congratulate Amberly, who has done considerable work to demonstrate the larger benefits and impacts of this kind of program, and I admire the ongoing support and advocacy from the Arrell Family Foundation on this issue about which they care deeply. We look forward to seeing the outcomes of this announcement in the cafeterias and lunchrooms of local schools Canada wide.”

To learn more about Amberly’s Scholar work on School Food, visit our School Food and Nutrition Page.

For an outline of the Arrell Family Foundation’s support of School Food Programs, visit their webpage.

You can read full announcement related to the National School Food Program details here.