Last week, Néomédia reported that the Coalition Avenir Québec had been slow to sign an agreement with the federal government for the National School Feeding Program. This initiative, which aims to enable the Quebec school network to get its hands on $11.6 million to feed underprivileged children, was finally initialed this Wednesday afternoon, March 5. 

Le Journal de Montréal reports that provincial minister Bernard Drainville and federal minister Jean-Yves Duclos will make the joint announcement on Friday. In the absence of an agreement by the end of March, federal funding for this program would have been lost for this year, as it cannot be transferred to the following year.

Launched in 2024, the Government of Canada's National School Feeding Program aims to ensure that 400,000 Canadian children facing food insecurity have access to nutritious meals at school. The Government of Canada committed $1 billion in federal funding over five years as part of Budget 2024 to develop a national school feeding program.  

Now that the two parties have reached an agreement, Quebec becomes the 6th province in Canada to join this pan-Canadian initiative. In effect, federal funding for this program will be transferred to the provinces. The amounts will then be forwarded to schools or school feeding organizations. 

The Quebec government's school food program

In 2024-2025, $65.1 million was allocated to food aid in the province's schools. Of this amount, $44.1 million was allocated through a budgetary measure, enabling 711,315 students to benefit from food aid in 2,232 schools in 2023-2024.

The Club des petits déjeuners received $15 million, enabling it to serve 1.7 million meals in 461 schools. La Cantine pour tous received $5.4 million and served at least one meal to 12,559 students in 106 schools.

At the Centre de services scolaires des Trois-Lacs, $275,000 has been redistributed to the territory's schools for the current school year.

“Redistribution is based on the number of students, but also on the low-income cut-off index. For example, a school in an underprivileged area will receive more money than a school in a more privileged area, for the same number of students. How the money is spent is at the discretion of each school, and is determined according to their reality. For example, some schools will offer lunches, while others will opt for snacks,” explains Alexandra Desrochers, coordinator of the CSSTL's General Secretariat and Communications Department.