OTTAWA — The government hopes that children will be eating under a national school lunch program by the end of next school year, but it will take time for the organization to expand its operations, the Minister of Families said Thursday.
OTTAWA — The government hopes that children will be eating under a national school lunch program by the end of next school year, but it will take time for the organization to expand its operations, the Minister of Families said Thursday.
The Liberals have set aside $1 billion over five years for the program, as they promised during the 2021 election campaign.
Families Minister Jenna Sudds said in an interview Thursday that the agreement is similar in nature to child care agreements the government has made with provinces, territories and Indigenous communities to lower child care fees.
“We negotiate these agreements, we put our vision and our principles into these agreements, and then it's incumbent on the states to move forward,” she said.
The school meals program relies heavily on existing organizations that already feed children and is expected to feed an additional 400,000 children.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new policies to guide the negotiations at a news conference in Nova Scotia on Thursday.
“One of the really important things about the school lunch program is that it's universal, so no one has to justify where they live or how much their parents earn in order to get a little bit of extra help,” Trudeau said.
That means the lunch, breakfast or snack program should be offered to every child in the school, Sudds said.
“That's an important principle for a number of reasons,” she said.
The talks are set to begin at a time when all political parties acknowledge that the cost of food has become unbearable for some families, but there is little agreement on how to improve the situation.
The goal is to start increasing the number of meals served in schools by the next summer vacation, but Sudds acknowledged that will take time even after negotiations are concluded.
“The funding is one thing, the agreement is another, but actually getting this done on the ground is another monumental undertaking,” she said.
“There are so many great organizations doing this work across the country right now. They just need the support and time to scale up their efforts to get more food to more schools.”
As with the child care agreement, Sudds expects negotiations and final agreements will play out very differently in each state, tailored to best serve the needs of specific communities.
The specifics of what the federal government wants from each agreement are still being worked out and are subject to negotiation, she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2024.
Laura Osman, The Canadian Press
