As the cost of living continues to spiral, so does food insecurity. According to the latest available data, at least 18.4 per cent of Canadians (nearly 1 in 5) are experiencing food insecurity, the highest ever recorded.
Worse, in the HungerCount 2023, Food Banks Canada reports youth are disproportionately affected, representing 20 per cent of the population but 33 per cent of food bank users.
“The reality is that not every kid has the same access to food for a whole host of reasons,” says Sam Gambling from the B.C. Chapter of the Coalition for Healthy School Food. “We know that kids who experience food insecurity have worse outcomes than their peers.”
These young people are at significantly higher risk of things like depression, asthma, obesity and disordered eating, issues that can follow them into adulthood.
“Since they eat about a third of their calories at school, it is the perfect place to support youth nutritionally, and also in building the knowledge and skills they will need to be healthy adults,” Gambling explains.
Policy advocates argue that a national school meal program would help families tackle the affordability crisis and create jobs. Indeed Bill-322, a National Framework for a School Food Program Act, enjoys broad support in parliament despite opposition from the Conservative Party, including local MP Frank Caputo.
British Columbia is not waiting around, announcing this year the Feeding Futures program which allots $214 million over three years for school meal programs, with $1.9 million per year slated for School District 73 (SD73).
Calling on the community
SD73 is well positioned to make use of the funding, Gambling tells The Wren.
“Unlike some districts they aren’t starting from scratch,” she explains. “They have existing partnerships to build from and a growing network of local food infrastructure to lean on.”
On Nov. 23, The Wren attended an event organized by two of those partners, the Kamloops Food Policy Council (KFPC) and Farm to School BC. At the event, local food champions gathered at The Stir to facilitate a community dialog and learning circle to strategize for the future of food in SD73.
This meeting brought together Michelle Mattes, district principal for Safe & Caring Schools and Mike Faisthuber, vice principal of Aboriginal Education with community stakeholders including farmers, distributors, dietitians, community service providers and representatives from SD73, SD83, the city of Kamloops and Interior health, among others.
The four questions participants were to keep in mind:
What is our community vision for school food in our region?
What community assets and strengths can we draw on to support school food initiatives in our region?
What are the gaps that we can work together to address?
How can school food initiatives integrate and align with other work underway in our region to build a more resilient local food system?
During the event, participants broke into smaller groups, each with its own concern to tackle from nutrition to distribution. Teams spelled out their vision, assessing current assets and gaps, and providing recommendations and next steps, before switching topics and doing it again.
“[Feeding Futures] is a great opportunity, but also a lot to drop onto the school districts at once,” says Marcus Lobb from Farm to School BC. “It has been amazing to see all these different stakeholders coming together to brainstorm. Because everyone has different expertise, they have been able to talk through issues…that may have taken weeks of back-and-forth emails.”
The session ended in a meal of ‘kid-friendly foods’ to thank participants for joining, but also to continue to inspire them as to what is possible for the future of school food.
“Of course food is more than just food,” Lobb says. “It is cultural, educational, social and it connects us all.”
Progress and the road ahead for school food
So far just over $1 million has been distributed to schools, both for providing snacks and meals for students and to engage in pilot projects that increase food literacy knowledge, skills and hands-on learning opportunities.
Existing programs have also been expanded including the Starfish Backpack program which provides healthy food for students to take home for the weekend and the Community Fridge program which provides meals and snacks.
Now that these programs have been in place for roughly half of the school year, district staff will be engaging with the District’s Student Advisory Council, Aboriginal Student Leadership Council and Principal’s Student Leadership Councils to seek feedback from students.
District staff will also be engaging with the District Parent Advisory Council and the Indigenous Family Voices for Education to collect feedback from parents.
KFPC and Farm to School BC are planning a follow-up collaboration meeting at The Stir for the spring.
The province has seen a two-fold return on investment for money spent on B.C. food in B.C. public institutions, stimulating local economies and creating jobs. This investment in school food is therefore expected to benefit not just students and their families, but local communities as a whole.
All this is not to say that there have not been challenges, or that more challenges don’t lie ahead. Concerns include fear of volunteer burnout and unequal distribution of resources due to lack of available staff in some schools.
It would be impossible to set up the perfect program right out of the gate, says Sonya Rokosh from Farm to School BC, but if we keep learning from each other, we can arrive at the best possible solution.
Editor’s Note Jan. 22, 2024: A previous version of the article misstated the name of the food program. It is Feeding Futures not Feeding the Future.
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