By Colin McGregor
A study by the Institut de recherché at d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS) confirms that only 12% of primary school children in this province benefit from a school food program, in contrast with an average of 61% in the developed world. And one in six Quebec children suffer from food insecurity, over 200,000 students in the provincial public school system.
The members of an organization dedicated to changing that, the Chantier pour un programme d’alimentation scolaire universel au Québec (PASUQ), point out that Canada is still the only country in the G7 to not have a national school meal program. “We can and should do more to offer our children healthy and affordable meals in all our public schools,” says PASUQ coordinator Maëlle Brouillette.
“The meal at lunch is very important to help children respond to their nutritional needs” Says Alison Eldridge, co-author of a study at the Nestle Research Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Their Whole Lives
Childhood is an important period to develop habits which have an impact on health. “Parents have a major role to play in giving examples of good health behavior, by offering a variety of foods rich in nutrients to their children and encouraging them to eat regular meals,” Eldridge says.
“This year, La Cantine pour tous is extending its services to respond to this crying demand in Quebec by furnishing 1.1 million school meals at affordable prices in a hundred schools across the province. The need is great” says Thibaud Liné, director general. “Together, we can assure that no child in a Quebec classroom will have an empty stomach. A universal school meals program guarantees that that will be the case, so that food insecurity in our schools isn’t on our newscasts every autumn when students go back to school.”
La Cantine pour tous is a collective that brings together social and solidarity economy organizations sharing a desire to act together to help resolve food insecurity and other food issues. It is supported by the Quebec government and its partners working in health and education. La Cantine aims at catalyzing a broader movement by encouraging the replication of their approach to ensure universal access.
Affordable Meals
This challenge exists not only in Quebec. Children in London, England benefit from free school meals . The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, furnishes this financing as an emergency measure given the steep rise in the cost of living. Khan recognizes that families have an urgent need to be supported. In 2023-24, the Mayor funded more than 43 million meals, providing families with a much needed safety net.
In the United States, 22 million of 30 million students who eat daily at school depend upon free or reduced price school meals. The biggest school meal program in the U.S. is the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Created in 1946, it works in more than 100,000 public schools, non-profit private schools and residential care facilities. It furnishes over five billion free or low cost lunches each year to students.
In Japan, almost all elementary schools offer free lunches.
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