Canada is mulling a national school food policy. What does this mean for the N.W.T.?

To feed your mind, you first have to feed your stomach.

Dianne Lafferty knows this truism well. As principal of the Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchokǫ̀, N.W.T., she’s witnessed just how hard it is for students to learn when they’re hungry.

That’s why she and the staff have spent years cultivating a comprehensive food program at their school. Now, all 400 students receive a full breakfast and lunch every day, alongside an assortment of snacks like yogurt, cheese, and crackers.

“No one’s ever turned away from food here,” Lafferty said. “We make a point of making sure that there’s food everywhere, and it’s always accessible.”

Food is also woven into the daily curriculum. Elders visit and show kids how to prepare country foods such as fish, rabbit, and bison. A hydroponic greenhouse was thrown into the mix last year, with over 60 heads of lettuce harvested so far.

Though it’s not always easy to keep these programs going, Lafferty said she and her colleagues are committed to ensuring they do.

Fortunately, aid may soon be on the way. The federal government is in the midst of preparing its first-ever national school food policy — which could pave the way towards a universal school food program.

What is the national school food policy?

The policy has been in the pipeline since 2021, when Justin Trudeau made the lofty election commitment of $1 billion over five years to develop one.

He officially tasked federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Karina Gould, the federal minister of families, children and social development, with starting the work that December.

In a written statement to CBC North, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada said the document will build on programming already led by territories and provinces, Indigenous governments, nonprofits, and others.

They said it will also “set the foundation for greater collaboration, coordination and investment, so more children have access to nutritious food in school.”

A nationwide public consultation period closed on Dec. 16. The spokesperson did not provide a timeline for when the document will be tabled.

Gillian Dawe-Taylor is director of student support and wellness for the N.W.T.’s education department. She told CBC the department is at the consultation table to “share N.W.T. school food program realities” with the federal government.

It’s not yet clear what specifics the policy will offer the territory, Dawe-Taylor said, but she praised its ongoing development as a positive step nevertheless.

“Anywhere where we’re going to implement something that is going to improve anything at school, food being one of them, can only be a good thing.”

‘That’s where kids are going for food’

Providing students with access to food has clear academic benefits, according to Dawe-Taylor. Through annual reports to the education department, she said school administrators have routinely noted benefits such as improved attendance, on-time arrival, and in-class behaviour.

In the North — a region that has long suffered from the highest rates of food insecurity in the country — those programs take on even more importance, Dawe-Taylor added.

Data from Statistics Canada’s 2020 Canadian Income Survey shows that 15 per cent of people in the Yukon, 23 per cent in the N.W.T., and 46 per cent in Nunavut lived in moderately or severely-food insecure households. That’s compared to 10.6 per cent Canada-wide.

For Tess Ondrack, coordinator of the N.W.T-based nonprofit Food First Foundation, investing in school food programs is an important way to battle the problem.

“That’s where kids are going for food, and a lot of times, it just makes sense to address it at the school level,” she said.

That’s the basis of the Food First Foundation’s mission, which raises funds for everything from nutrition programs and cooking classes, to gardens and community feasts.

In the past two years, the organization has distributed around $779,547 in funding to N.W.T. schools for kitchen equipment and gardening supplies alone.

“We just do our best to fill any gaps in funding in the larger sources that schools already receive,” Ondrack said. And from what she’s seen, it’s sorely needed.

Brunt of burden rests on teachers, individual schools

At the moment, food programs in the N.W.T. are run on a school-by-school basis. The territorial government provides an annual pot of $650,000 under its Anti-Poverty Strategy, which is divided amongst school boards

However, if more cash is needed, then individual schools have to look for other funders — such as community governments, and nonprofits like Food First Foundation or the Breakfast Club of Canada — on their own.

This puts the burden of keeping food programs alive on educators themselves, Ondrack pointed out, with many dedicating many extra hours (and sometimes, their own funds) to the cause.

“It just seems there’s a huge gap in how much funding they need to run these programs, and how much funding that they’re getting,” Ondrack said. “Some schools are spending so much time fundraising, applying for grants, and it’s a lot of work on top of what teachers are already doing.

“It’s happening because a lot of the staff are just passionate about feeding their kids, so they’re willing to put in the extra work. But they shouldn’t have to.”

So, what’s the solution? Ondrack thinks it starts with more consistent and flexible program funding. She said she hopes a national school food policy can help deliver on that front.

Taking the North’s unique realities into account

Over in Behchokǫ̀, Lafferty is equally passionate about this point. With fresh food being more expensive and often less accessible in the North, she says the policy — and any resulting programs — need to meaningfully take those unique realities into account.

“I would hope that they wouldn’t assume that we’re the same as any school down south,” she said.

Lafferty said she would also like to see traditional foods and culturally-relevant programming made a priority. She sees Chief Jimmy Bruneau as an example of what can be done.

“There’s a significant number of students who [depend] on the food from here. So, we just continue to grow it as we can, with proposals and whatever ways we can support it, because it’s important.”