Kootenay Lake’s School District 8 supports the idea of a pan-Canadian school food program, following a campaign launched last week by the Canadian Teachers Federation asking that one be included in the next federal budget.
The initiative, according to the Federation’s website, aims to ensure all students in Canada have access to nutritious food, at a time when a record number of families are experiencing food insecurity due to inflation.
The province has been working with school districts to help address food insecurity for years through its Community Link program, rebranded in 2023 to Feeding Futures.
Superintendent Trish Smillie says SD8 received $644,000 last year through Feeding Futures, which allowed the district to implement a ‘no-fee’ school food program for students and families struggling to put food on the table.
“Through Feeding Futures, we’ve been able to establish quite a program, and it has had a significant impact in our schools.”
Ms. Smillie says the district has seen the demand for these programs increase over the last few years because of inflation, but that they’ve been able to manage it so far.
“We’ve absolutely seen an increase in demand, and we’ve been working in our schools to destigmatize the ability for families to access food through school and specifically through this funding, and then as well to kind of offset costs for all families in our school system.”
SD8 also has the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional program in place in every school that provides snacks and breakfast to students once a day.
Additionally, there are currently six schools in the district partaking in a pilot program that offers students significantly more food options than what’s available through the BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional program.
The pilot program is in place at Redfish Elementary, Salmo Secondary School, Blewett Elementary School, W.E. Graham, and J.V. Humphries, but Smillie says it will be expanded to other schools this year.
Unlike some BC food banks, who have been experiencing a rise in demand but also a decrease in donations, Smillie says SD8 has not seen a decrease in donations from community members and local organizations supporting school food initiatives.
“We have a significant amount of food coming into schools right now. They’re not universal food programs, but we have food in place for those in need. We’re really thankful for all our nonprofit groups that support students across all of our communities to ensure that students have the food they need to be healthy and to learn throughout the day.”