April 19, 2021
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland
Minister of Finance
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario Canada
K1A 0A6
Re: National School Food Program
Dear Minister Freeland,
I’m writing to you regarding the need to develop a National School Food Program. As you may know, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated inequalities across Canada and the number of people experiencing food insecurity across the country has increased as a result. If you combine this situation with the closing of schools for public health reasons, we are becoming more and more aware of just how vulnerable Canadian children and youth are to food insecurity.
Your government was quick to provide funding to organizations such as Breakfast Club Canada who were able to reach up to 600 000 children. This number is high and is expected to rise in coming years. With experts saying that food insecurity directly impacts children’s mental health, putting in place a National School Food Program would serve as a preventive measure to preserve youth mental health, particularly as families continue to struggle through the stressors and hardships of the pandemic.
I support the call from the Breakfast Club of Canada, a national umbrella organization in partnership with more than 100 organizations and 1,887 schools across Canada for a National school food program.
With more than 76% of Canadians supporting the creation of such a program open to all students in Canada and funded by all levels of government and private partners, I ask you to keep providing help to the families in need and to keep your promise from the 2019 budget to implement a National school food program
Sincerely,
Jenica Atwin,
Member of Parliament for Fredericton
