Bill No. 342 - Universal School Food Program Act - 2nd Reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : When I was first elected, in that first year a young woman came to see me. She had won The Duke of Edinburgh Award, I think, for being a community activist. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was something to do with food security. She was in university at the time, but she talked to me about going to what was then the Southdale-North Woodside Elementary School, which doesn't exist anymore. She remembered chewing on pieces of paper at lunchtime because she was hungry, and she didn't have food. That was just how it was. She didn't have food, so she would chew on pieces of paper.

We all have conversations with constituents that stick with us, and that was one that stuck with me, because it was so far outside of my own experience. I didn't grow up in an environment of food insecurity, and sometimes it's those conversations that can bring that back.

A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some tour work as party leader. There was a young woman who was with us, and she was a photographer. There was a film crew, and she was part of the film crew. We stopped for lunch, and we were chatting. We started to talk about school food because it had been in the news. She said that a couple of people said kids should have food in school. Yes, of course, kids shouldn't go hungry. She said, Well you know, I grew up with a single mom, we didn't have enough money - my mom didn't have time to do things like pack lunches for me. She said it in this way that was so matter of fact. She was young - this is recent - and she said, my mom couldn't do things like pack lunches. If my friends had a little bit extra to eat, I would have it, and if they didn't, I wouldn't.

I've had lots of conversations in between those two. I think that, to have this conversation about the need for a universal school food program, we need to unequivocally accept that we have an extraordinary degree of food insecurity in this province, and that we have many, many children across this province who don't have enough to eat. They might have a granola bar in their classroom. They might have a teacher or a librarian who goes out of their way to find a way to give them food. But they don't have enough to eat. This is the issue that we are trying to address with this bill.

Last year, the Auditor General reported that some students wouldn't eat for the entire day if the school didn't provide them with food. That same report found that while 43,000 children are accessing breakfast programs daily, only about 3,000 receive a subsidized or free lunch. Part of the reason - which I have spoken about in this Chamber - is that lots of our schools don't actually have cafeterias. It's not an option. If they do, it might be leased out to a private company.

They warn that if these healthy food recommendations weren't addressed, the health care cost could be in the billions. We hear over and over in this conversation from the minister and members on the government side that every student who needs food in schools gets food. We continue to talk to young people, students, parents, teachers, and administrators who tell us that is not the case - and I believe them. Again, I think we have to come at this conversation from a basic starting point that there are hundreds, probably thousands of students in this province who don't have enough to eat. The question is: What can we do about it?

A Nova Scotia Health Authority report from last Fall found that in some schools, students have to approach a teacher or administrator for free meals. This approach risks singling students out. The Premier is trying to make something about me saying that kids have to raise their hands. Kids have to identify themselves. How do we identify them? If we don't have a universal program, a child needs to identify to someone that they are hungry. That robs them of their dignity, it stigmatizes them, and it is wrong.

The reason that we are putting this forward is to say that people should not have to do that. Having to self-identify is a barrier. Further, we know that having to self-identify, and the stigma that brings means - again, to be clear on the round of this conversation - that not all children who need food are getting food. It shouldn't be the responsibility of teachers. We know that teachers are doing everything they can and that government funding is in no way sufficient.

We hear government talk about the money that they are advocating for food in schools, particularly education. Well, in fact, my understanding is that the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has very little, if any, money that is dedicated to food in schools. There is a pot of money from the Department of Health and Wellness that is dedicated to healthy eating. But the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Progressive Conservative government think that every discretionary dollar that goes into education and is under the control of schools should be used for food. It shouldn't.

There are all kinds of other things that we need in schools. We need playground equipment. We need musical instruments. We need to fix infrastructure. We need all kinds of stuff. We shouldn't have to spend all that money on food. Not only are we spending all that money on food, but many schools tell us that budget is already spent, and we're not even at Christmas. That is how big the need is.

We know that food bank usage across the province is rising - up 27 per cent in this year alone. One-third of all Nova Scotians accessing those supports are children - one-third of people accessing food supports in this province. Nova Scotia has some of the worst rates of child poverty and food insecurity in the country. Hundreds of children who rely on the school breakfast program weren't even able to access them when the pandemic hit.

All the costs have risen over the last year. Those school breakfast programs are becoming narrower and narrower. When I talk to my own children and their friends, they say that maybe there's a granola bar in the back of the classroom. For so many schools, that's what school food means. School food means that you can have a granola bar when you get to school. For any parent or anyone who has interacted with children, a granola bar does not a meal make. It's not healthy.

This has been true for years. I met with Nourish Nova Scotia five years ago and they said that it directly impacts educational outcomes. It's not just that we need to make sure that children aren't hungry, although we shouldn't have to get beyond that, because that feels like a basic. If we want to go further, hungry children can't learn. Not only can they not learn and have educational excellence and progress, but they can be disruptive.

I think we hear teachers say - particularly teachers in schools in disadvantaged areas where they know that food insecurity is high - that they can't plan on getting anything done in the afternoon because by that point, the kids will be hungry, and they're going to be squirrelly. The teachers won't be able to teach them anymore. That should not be a situation in our schools.

We have advocated for this program for years. One free meal a day for all students. Across the world, developed countries that have the financial capacity - of which Canada is one - have these programs. Yes, we are also looking to the federal government because this is an election promise that they made. In the meantime, the fact that we are not acting on our own is a huge disservice to children and families who are struggling and who don't have the time to wait.

The government announced a salad bar pilot in the Spring - eight schools in the Strait Region, none in HRM. I think that the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development spoke at NSTU about seeing bowls of grapes on tables in classrooms. That's great for the classrooms that have bowls of grapes on the table. I've never been to any of them. My children have never been in any of those schools.

Again, I think what we're doing here is that we are advocating for publicly funded school meals, something that is the norm in many parts of the world. We are the only G7 country that doesn't do this. Again, this is not some kind of aspirational, radical idea. This is something that every other G7 country does and that we should absolutely be doing.

I will say that the United Nations estimates that school food has a return of $3 to $10 for every dollar invested, so it's also good economics. We are saving health care costs. We are saving all kinds of costs, but in the end, the main thing that we are doing is feeding children.

I want to close by saying that this isn't a hugely planned-out and well-crafted speech. To me, the need for this program should be completely self-evident. We all live and represent communities that have challenges around child poverty. This is an issue across our province. We all represent constituents who have extreme food insecurity because this is the norm across our province in every constituency.

This is a simple thing that the government could do, which we have been hearing dribs and drabs about from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for some time, which would directly impact that. I urge the government to move forward with the school food program and pass our bill.