Bill C-201 (Historical)

School Food Program for Children Act

An Act to develop a national school food program for children

This bill was last introduced in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session, which ended in August 2021.

This bill was previously introduced in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session.

Sponsor

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Feb. 4, 2020
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment provides for the development of a national school food program to ensure that all children in Canada have access to healthy food.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

All House mentions

December 8th, 2020 / 5:10 p.m.

See context

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Yasmeen, I appreciate your bringing the theme of food security into our conversation on food processing, especially your comments about a national food nutrition program. My colleague Don Davies has sponsored Bill C-201 in the House of Commons, which aims to do just that. I was looking at a provincial example. Here in British Columbia we have the feed B.C. program, which links many of our farms and food processing centres with health care operations and with post-secondary operations.

Of course in every small community you have elementary schools and middle schools, so that infrastructure already exists. The demand is potentially there, and of course, many of our food processing facilities are located in small towns. They are smaller operations. I'd like you to expand a little more about what a food program for schoolchildren could do for the food processing industry.

School Food Program for Children ActRoutine Proceedings

February 4th, 2020 / 10:05 a.m.

See context

NDP

Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-201, An Act to develop a national school food program for children.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to introduce my bill, the school food program for children act. I would like to thank the hon. member for Vancouver East for seconding the bill.

This legislation would require the Minister of Health, in consultation with the provincial and territorial governments and other relevant stakeholders, to develop a national school food nutrition program to ensure that all children in Canada would have access to healthy food. The program would operate at little or no direct cost to children or their families, build on existing school food programs across Canada, use best practices from other jurisdictions and promote evidence-based healthy food education.

In a country as prosperous as Canada, no child should have to struggle through the school day on an empty stomach. However, today, more than 1.5 million children live in families that have difficulty putting food on the table. Canada remains among the few industrialized countries without a universal school food program.

A national school food program would not only give every student in Canada access to nutritious food, it would make healthy eating a daily lesson for our kids.

I am pleased to see in budget 2019 that the government announced its intention to establish a national school food program in Canada. This legislation represents an important first step toward making that goal a reality.

I call on all parliamentarians to work together to support this important health and social justice initiative.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)