NDP expands school nutrition program as need persists

Alberta’s school nutrition program is expanding to feed more than 30,000 hungry students across the province. The government is ramping up funding to $15.5 million — a big jump from the $3.5 million the program received only two years ago.

And while Premier Rachel Notley is adamant the Alberta economy is recovering, families are still struggling to put food on the table as students continue to arrive at school hungry and unable to learn.

“We’ve made significant progress, but we know there’s still more work to be done,” Notley said during the announcement of the program at the Calgary Board of Education’s Banting and Best School.

“We’re seeing a slow indication that things are beginning to look up in terms of what Albertans are experiencing within the economy. But we know it’s not across the board and we have a great deal of work to do.”

Notley said that while Alberta has led the country in economic growth, creating 90,000 jobs since last year, other initiatives like raising the minimum wage and freezing post-secondary tuition have also improved affordability.

But she admits there are still families facing poverty.

“Even before the drop of the price in oil, let alone afterwards, we had significant levels of inequality. We had parts of the community in every community where people were going without, where kids were going without.

“But schools are a great place where we can do everything we can to give every child the same access to opportunities and support so they have every opportunity to build and grow in their lives.”

Payal Tuli, principal at Banting and Best, says kids arrive hungry at school regularly.

“We know because they tell us. They arrive early, they say they are hungry … that they haven’t had breakfast,” said Tuli, adding that the school offers breakfast and snacks throughout the day to all of its 217 students from kindergarten to Grade 3.

“If they’re hungry, they’re not ready to learn. They have issues with attention … they can be emotional with tears and maybe even some anger.”

When the province introduced the program as a pilot in 201617, 14 public and separate school authorities across the province, including 10 rural and four urban school authorities, were selected based on socio-economic need.