The State of School Food Programming in Canada in 2023/24

by: Ken Bejer, CHSF, Communications Coordinator

Illustration by Ruetz Consulting

On April 1, 2024, the Government of Canada announced the launch of the National School Food Program. This initiative features a $1 billion investment over five years to provide meals to an additional 400,000 children annually. 

For decades, school food programs (SFPs) have operated in Canada. However, many students in most provinces and territories are not yet able to access these programs. 

So, how many school food programs are there, and children and youth do participate in current programs? How many JK-12 schools have a school food program? How many JK-12 students have participated in a one or more school food program (breakfast, snack and/or lunch program)?

To answer these questions, the Arrell Family Foundation sponsored Ruetz Consulting completed this review. We are delighted to share the State of School Food Programming in Canada 2023/24. This map created by Dr. Amberley Ruetz at Ruetz Consulting features data such as the percentage of schools with school food programs and the percentage of students who participated in SFPs. This also highlights the level of school food program accessibility for each province and territory in Canada.

During their research, they discovered that:

• Over half of JK-12 schools had one or more school food programs

• Over 25% of JK-12 students participated in one or more programs (breakfast, snack and/or lunch). 

• All JK-12 schools in all three territories have school food programs.

As the Government of Canada continues to finalize agreements with all the provinces and territories during the 2024-2025 school year, the Coalition for Healthy School Food hopes that this National School Food Program will encourage schools, parents and students to join these programs. 

We want to thank Dr. Amberley Ruetz and the Arrell Family Foundation for their work on this important resource.

Source

Ruetz Consulting (2024, September). The Canadian School Food Program Survey.

Funded by the Arrell Family Foundation. https://amberleyruetz.ca/assets/uploads/canada-school_food_map_2023-24_ruetz-consulting-en.pdf

The French version of the map is available here.