Budget 2025: How Canada’s national school food program can catalyze systemic change

Experts say that simply feeding Canada’s students can have wide-ranging, positive effects that extend across generations.

On October 10, the government announced that the National School Food Program (NSFP), launched in April 2024 by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, would become a permanent initiative.

Canada is the last G7 country to implement such a program, and there is a lot to be learned from other jurisdictions, say experts.

“(…) the federal government introduced it in Budget 2024 to help families with rising grocery costs. However, the NSFP could mean much more than just short-term financial relief for families,” writes Anna Geddes, senior researcher at the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa.

Brazil is often presented as the template for national school food programs. Implemented in 1955, it provides free meals to all students in public primary and secondary schools across the nation. In 2009, it was modified to include educational, environmental, and local economic development objectives.

As such, a minimum of 30 per cent of the program’s budget must be spent on purchasing food produced by local family farms. 

To facilitate local sourcing, these purchases are exempt from competitive bidding processes and may be made through private agreements.

“Initially, national school food programs targeted food insecurity and proved to be stigmatizing for the most disadvantaged children. Then, they became public health programs. Today, they are also seen as tools for economic development and environmental intervention,” said Anne Plourde,  researcher at the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information in Montreal and author of a report on school food programs.

How could Canada’s National School Food Program be a catalyst for systemic change and have a ripple effect in schools and in the community?

We asked the question to three non-profit suppliers of school food: the Breakfast Club of Canada, La Cantine pour tous, and La Tablée des Chefs, as well as a national lobby group, The Coalition for Healthy School Food.

Embed the program in a law

“First, let’s make sure this program is embedded in a law,” said Judith Barry, co-founder of the Breakfast Club of Canada and Director of Government Relations.

Doing so would make it part of Canada’s social programs toolbox, thus protecting it from changes in government. 

In 2025, Manitoba became the first province to embed its school food program into a law.

“Sweden and Brazil went further and included it in their constitution,” added Barry.

A law would also reassure existing school food suppliers, and encourage potential ones, to invest in the infrastructure and the personnel required for the Canadian program to become universal, said Thibaud Liné, GM of La Cantine pour tous, a Quebec collective of 93 social economy organizations working to solve food insecurity and other food-related issues.

A universal program is offered to all the children in all the schools. 

“Universal refers to the accessibility, not the price. It means that all the children have access to the same meal, regardless of the parents’ income,” said Jean-François Archambault, founder of La Tablée des Chefs, a non-profit working in food recuperation, food security and food autonomy among young adults.

When a school offers a universal food program, parents have the option to opt in or out. The students accessing it all have the same meal. 

“It eliminates the stigma of one kid eating Kraft dinner and her classmate eating a beef stew,” said Archambault.

Complement the existing provincial school food initiatives

There are many pricing strategies for a universal program. PEI has a “pay-as-you-can” motto. It is La Cantine pour tous’ business model. It serves 52,000 meals in 171 schools across the province of Quebec.

“The suggested contribution for our meals is $6. Most parents pay between $3 and $4, and the Quebec government finances the rest. About five per cent of the parents contribute over six dollars to co-finance other kids’ meals,” said Liné.

Currently, every province has some sort of initiative related to school food. Investment ranges from $0.03 per student (Saskatchewan) to $3.30 per student (Nova Scotia).

The provincial investments are split into two. A portion is allocated to the schools, which then decide whether to purchase and distribute the food or hire a private caterer or a non-profit organization. The remainder of the government envelope is sent directly to the service providers, allowing them to do so.

In Quebec, in 2022-2023, the government invested $67M in its school food program, 72 per cent of which was attributed to schools and 28 per cent to various non-profit providers.

Together, all provincial school food initiatives amount to $400 million, said Ken-Melvin Bejer, Communication Coordinator for The Coalition for Healthy School Food.

The national program will complement these initiatives, with $200 million yearly. The money will transit through the provinces and the territories; the federal government signed agreements with all of them.

La Cantine pour tous, The Breakfast Club of Canada and La Tablée des Chefs applied to receive a portion of the NSFP attributed to Quebec.

The additional investment would allow La Tablée to distribute its solidarity soups to 100 more schools. 

“Our bowl cost 38 cents; we ask for half of it from the new national program,” said Archambault.

In Quebec, all school food providers have a specialty. “It can be breakfast, lunch or snacks,” said Archambault. 

“In an ideal world, these should be complementary; all students would have access to the spectrum, because a kid who does not get breakfast at home probably goes to school with an almost empty lunch box,” he added.

Invest in the equipment

La Tablée created the initiative “solidarity soups”  in 2022.

To deliver its soups to 70 Quebec schools, Archambault counts on two partners, Congébec and IGA. The first one offers free storage for the frozen soup prepared by La Tablée. The second one provides free delivery.

“Provincial school food initiatives, as well as the national program, only cover the cost of food. For all the rest, we need to be creative,” said Archambault.

One example of being creative is using induction soup pots. “Many primary schools don’t have a kitchen or a cafeteria. These induction pots can be plugged into a corridor, allowing sixth-grade students to serve the food in the bowls. Often, the kids eat their soup in their class as there is no dining area,” said Archambault.

The infrastructure deficit is a significant hurdle to amplifying the national school food program.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada estimates that a yearly investment of $100M is necessary to upgrade Canada’s school and community equipment, said Barry.

Last year, Canadian community organizations serving school meals received $20M through the Local Food Infrastructure Fund.

The Breakfast Club of Canada was awarded $5 million. “We selected 41 community projects and helped them ramp up their equipment,” said Barry.

Grow the non-profit organizations

The demand created by the NSFP is an opportunity for many non-profit organizations to generate new revenues and to grow, said Liné.

“When I joined La Catine pour tous, our social caterers did not provide any school meals; their clients were individuals. We develop La Cantine’s school offer by working with members who have shown a desire and potential to scale. And we added new members who could develop the capacity to serve schools,” he added.

Childcare resources, food banks and Meals on Wheels are three examples of organizations that could benefit from the systemic impact of the NSFP.

“We have childcare resources now selling meals to their neighbourhood schools and Meals on Wheels adding school delivery to their route,” said Liné.

Food banks already process the food they receive to prevent it from going to waste. Infrastructure investment could help them transform their processing kitchen into a production site.

“Most cities have social organizations with activities related to food that we can amplify. Consider a social caterer employing immigrant women to prepare meals for community events. The permanent school food program, and its fresh money, makes it interesting to invest in an additional truck or a chef to coordinate a more significant production,” said Liné.

Encourage social entrepreneurship among chefs

Archambault is a pioneer of social entrepreneurship in Quebec. After graduating from l’Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec, he worked for Fairmont and Marriott while starting a movement to reduce food waste.

In 2002, he launched La Table des Chefs.

“We must seize the momentum from the NSFP to introduce culinary school students to social entrepreneurship. We need to tell them about the opportunities for social catering,” he said.

“Let’s be honest, it is nearly impossible to feed students quality meals with a for-profit model, even with the best intentions. A non-profit or a social enterprise is the most relevant supplier for schools,” he added.

Furthermore, it is the best option for hospitals and nursing homes, he said.

“If the government becomes intentional about developing a social catering ecosystem to feed public institutions, adapting its procurement accordingly, we have a significant, impactful project, in line with Prime Minister (Mark) Carney’s discourse. Social impact projects can be catalytic.”

Create a governance structure

NSFP could be a societal project; the government can make it transversal, said Barry.

However, the three school food providers interviewed agreed on the need for a governance structure. 

“This structure would be responsible for program accountability, monitoring, and strategy,” said Barry.

“Some money must also be allocated to independent research on the impact,” said Bejer.

“We need to know how many children have access to these meals, but also what the effect is on the families’ finances. How much do families save because of the national school food program? The cost of living is a main concern for Canadian households; this program has the potential to release some pressure,” he added.

A governance structure would also facilitate cross-minister discussions.

“In some provinces, all school food initiatives originate from the Minister of Education. In BC, he works with the Minister of Agriculture. In Ontario, he collaborates with the Minister of Community and Social Services,” said Bejer.

Brazil created a paragovernmental organization to coordinate the school food program, said Barry. 

“One of their roles is to act as a broker, organizing calls for tenders and signing agreements with producer associations so that they can supply schools locally,” she said.

 “It is a balancing act between benefiting from economies of scale from large procurement and making sure the program is locally and culturally adapted,” added Bejer.

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