Canada unveils national school food policy, Education News, ET Education

Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined the federal government’s policy on implementing the National School Food Program in schools across the country. With a C$1 billion ($730 million) investment, the program will provide meals to up to 400,000 more children over five years, according to a press release on the prime minister’s website.

The program is expected to save participating families with two children up to C$800 ($584) a year on grocery bills, according to a statement cited in a report by the Xinhua news agency.

The program includes investments that will support school food programs for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, as well as local government and Modern Treaty partners, many of which have some of the highest rates of food insecurity in Canada, the statement added.

Statistics Canada estimates that in 2022, 22.3 per cent of families and more than 2.1 million children under 18 in Canada reported that they had experienced some level of food insecurity in the past 12 months.