Human Resources Committee on Oct. 27th, 2026

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thank you very much.

For my last question, we know that communities are really struggling, so there are a number of federal interventions that are being supported by our government, whether it's the Canada child benefit, the national school food program or the groceries and essentials benefit. Can each of you talk about the ways in which policy interventions and these resources are helping communities immediately?

[Julie Desharnais]

I'll start.

They are tools. They also send a clear message that we all need to work on improving how we do things to reduce waste and make healthy food more accessible. I think all these programs help us spread that message to the community, rally everyone around this objective and find solutions.

That said, I would conclude by saying that there is no single solution. Everyone has to work together. That's where our strength lies, and that's how we'll be able to address inflation and the fact that children are showing up at school every day with empty bellies. I think communities must rally around this objective, and therein lies the strength of the programs the federal government is promoting. Communities that embrace them must continue to champion that message.

[Judith Barry]

Yes, these programs can complement one another.

When those programs can interact together, it really helps us to optimize the resources invested. We witnessed that through the school food infrastructure fund while we were connecting food hub and food bank initiatives that were able to distribute food to schools. Following some infrastructure investment, they were reaching 47% more students with the same funding for food. The infrastructure optimized the production and transformation of food and probably included food waste measures.

There are always ways to better connect those initiatives and ensure that we can join forces in ensuring a safety net that is really strong for our communities and families.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Nguyen.

Thank you to the witnesses.

We will now suspend for a few moments while we transition to the next hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Welcome back, members, for the second hour of today's panel. We have witnesses appearing in person and virtually.

To those new who are joining, I would ask you to familiarize yourself with the translation. Use the earpiece unless you're fluent in both official languages. It's important that everybody participating understand the testimony and the questioning from all members of the committee en français et en anglais. Virtually please click on the globe icon at the bottom of your screen. Choose the language that you are comfortable participating in. If there is an interruption in translation service, please get my attention and we'll suspend while it's corrected. As a final note, please direct all questions and comments through the chair. Wait until I recognize you by name before proceeding.

In the last hour, we have in the room with us, from the Coalition for Healthy School Food, Carolyn Webb, policy and engagement lead.

From Food Banks Canada, we have Nick McRoberts, vice-president, advocacy and research.

We also have, from Les Cuisiniers Différents, Chantal Pagé, executive director, by video conference.

Each witness has up to five minutes for their opening statement.

We'll begin with you, Ms. Webb.

[Carolyn Webb, Policy and Engagement Lead, Coalition for Healthy School Food]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee, for inviting me to speak.

The Coalition for Healthy School Food is Canada's largest school food network, with over 550 organizational members and endorsers from all provinces and territories.

I spoke to this committee in February and am pleased to speak again today about the positive impacts of the program and how it can grow to achieve its vision. The program is working, and all jurisdictions are experiencing its benefits. Our members tell us how important it is that they can count on stable funding now that the program is permanent, and they're investing in longer-term infrastructure, staff, and expansion to new schools.

The program has incentivized provincial investment in the Atlantic provinces, which have leveraged the funds to create universal quality programs, with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia now serving breakfast and lunch. In Ontario, programs have increased their food quality and reliability so more students can access food on more school days. One provider shared that they have seen “record program growth, including the onboarding of 29 new programs over the past year—the highest expansion in our program’s history”.

Federal funding has enabled service providers in Ontario to replace some prepackaged foods with minimally processed or unprocessed foods, such as fruits and vegetables. Some have also started offering hot or ready-to-eat meals at lunchtime and providing a wider variety of foods from different culinary traditions. These measures support families experiencing food insecurity, and providers have reported reduced stigma and improved student behaviour.

I also just heard about a remote indigenous community in Saskatchewan that used federal funds along with education commission funding to start offering breakfast, lunch and two snacks to all students in 2025. They've seen improved literacy and math scores and increased attendance.

While we're seeing invaluable impacts from the national investment, it needs to grow to achieve your policy goal of reaching all children and youth in Canada. Many schools still don't have programs and with federal investment at around 20¢ per student per day with varying matched funds, many programs can't offer quality meals, often providing something closer to a light snack.

You ask about food inflation. Rising food prices significantly impact families and school food providers. We're asking you to double your funding from $200 million to $400 million per year to match the over $400 million from provinces, territories and municipalities. This would help Canada advance its vision of a universal program and get us closer to other high-income countries, which invest around five times our provincial, territorial and federal funding amounts combined.

You ask about measuring impact. We recommend following Sweden's example by developing a coordinated national research and evaluation plan to implement longitudinal studies on health, education, economic and food system outcomes. This would let us monitor progress towards the national policy, share learning across jurisdictions, strengthen policy decisions and demonstrate the impact of investment.

You asked us about ways to ensure equitable access across Canada. The working group on school food in Black communities recommends ensuring that foods served are diverse and culturally representative, encouraging the participation of parents and members of Black communities and creating community economic development opportunities, including by supporting farmers, school food service staff, chefs and entrepreneurs from Black communities. Increased investment will, of course, have a significant impact on equitable access.

You asked about design and delivery. Flowing funds to provinces, territories and indigenous partners is working. We recommend creating a national school food program round table or other structure for the federal government, provinces and territories to coordinate the collection of impact data and to support information sharing, innovation and problem solving among governments, indigenous communities and non-profits.

Last week, my colleague Brent, a Vancouver teacher, ran about 30 kilometres around the Parliament Hill lawn to draw attention to our recommendation to increase annual funding. He and others collected 1,000 postcards from students thanking your government and describing the importance of healthy school food.

I have some here for you today.

Two grade 8 students in Kingston shared this: “Dear Prime Minister, students need healthy food to have good mental health. Food is what provides us with energy and gets us focused during our classes. When you provide us with healthy food, it makes us feel like you recognize us and care. Thank you.”

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Mr. McRoberts, go ahead for five minutes.

[Nick McRoberts, Vice President, Advocacy and Research, Food Banks Canada]

Thank you, Chair and members of the committee.

My name is Nick McRoberts. I'm the vice-president of advocacy and research at Food Banks Canada. We represent a network of 5,500 local food banks and community organizations from coast to coast to coast.

Your study is looking at two things together: food price inflation and school food. In our experience, they are closely connected.

I would like to begin by recognizing progress. The current government has reconfirmed its support for the national school food program. That permanence gives schools, provinces, territories and community partners something they can plan around.

At the same time, we see every day how much families are still carrying. Our newly released “HungerCount” shows that food bank visits have more than doubled since 2019, reaching a record 2.35 million people in March 2026 alone. Over 35% of monthly food bank visits are from one- and two-parent families. One in three people walking through a food bank's doors each month in this country are children. When a household's grocery budget is cut to cover rent or hydro, it's children who feel that first. In our latest polling, one in five people in Canada said that they were eating less because they could not afford more. They are being forced to make impossible choices.

This isn't a static problem. Trade instability with our largest trading partner, climate-driven disruptions to production and volatile input costs are all still moving through the system and landing directly on grocery bills. Food price inflation isn't separate from the program's design question.

I would ask the committee to look closely at the gap between funding meals and the need for infrastructure that makes meal delivery possible. Food Banks Canada ran a school food infrastructure fund last year through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada that shows exactly what that gap looks like. With $1.6 million provided across 24 grants for things like refrigerated vans, freezers, blast chillers and storage, community organizers went from supporting 190 schools to 241 schools, reaching nearly 8,000 additional students and moving an extra quarter of a million pounds of food each month. A food bank in Barrie grew from 26 schools to 30 schools served by a single refrigerated vehicle. A kitchen in Revelstoke was able to increase the number of meals served by a third with four chest freezers. Building capacity is the difference between a school food program that's reliable and one that's improvised. This is particularly important for low-income, indigenous, northern, rural or remote communities.

School food is one important part of a bigger picture, and our After the Bell program helps show why. Started in 2015, After the Bell delivers child-friendly food packs through local food banks to school-age children over the summer, when school meal programs are closed. It began with 700 packs. In 2023, 185,000 packs reached children in more than 200 communities across the country. The need for it tells us something very important: Children's food needs don't stop when the school day or the school year ends. School food and community food support work best together.

With that in mind, we offer three suggestions for the committee's consideration.

First, consider infrastructure alongside per-meal funding in the program's funding model so that programs can run reliably. Infrastructure at every level continues to be one of the largest inhibitors to moving food effectively in this country.

Second, when looking at outcomes, look beyond the school day to summers, weekends and holidays. Ensure that children always have access to healthy, adequate meals.

Third, keep household income in view. The federal government estimates that school food can save participating families with two children about $800 a year. That is real help. Income support remains what can directly address food insecurity. Our October polling found that one-third of respondents with household incomes below $50,000 had skipped a meal in the past three months because they could not afford it.

Food insecurity, hunger and poverty are not inevitable. At the same time, they won't solely be fixed by school food programming. We need structural changes to social supports to improve the lives of people in Canada. That is why we must relieve hunger today in order to solve hunger tomorrow. Food banks are glad to be partners in this work, and we would welcome the chance to share more of what we have learned.

I look forward to your questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. McRoberts.

Ms. Pagé, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Chantal Pagé, Executive Director, Les Cuisiniers Différents]

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.

Thank you for inviting us to share Les Cuisiniers Différents's experience with Canada's national school food program.

Les Cuisiniers Différents is a social enterprise whose primary mission is to integrate young adults with intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome or autism spectrum disorders into the workforce through the world of cooking.

The pandemic prompted us to build on that initial mission by developing a second mission focused on food security for students attending schools in disadvantaged communities. We also have a social and circular economy component that allows us to recover certain food products and repurpose them so that they can be delivered directly to children in schools.

Les Cuisiniers Différents is based in Montérégie, in the greater Longueuil area. We've also been providing services to schools in the Lower St. Lawrence over the past year because that region didn't have access to an affordable school catering program. Over the past year, we've enabled more than 225 children in the Lower St. Lawrence region to access affordable meals.

We provide school meal services every day. We are members of a network called La cantine pour tous, providing both home meal delivery and meals served in schools. It is important to note that La cantine pour tous operates on a sliding scale pricing model that allows parents to pay according to their means. Last year, the program provided lower-cost meals to 725 children and seniors.

Inflation certainly has a significant impact on our day-to-day operations. As inflation goes up, our clients' needs grow and our costs rise too. That means we always have to keep a close eye on our margins.

Now, to our recommendations. If we want to help as many children as possible, we have to look at how we can provide them with services within these programs. Here's what I mean by that. Children who go home at lunchtime do not eat at school because their parents don't have enough income to afford child care. In many cases, these children get food in the morning from the Breakfast Club, but they go home at noon because they're not registered for child care. We can be quite sure that what they eat at home will probably not be a meal of the same quality as the ones we can offer them through the school meal program.

I think it would also be worthwhile to have strategies that place more emphasis on equity when it comes to funding organizations in the regions rather than those in metropolitan areas or major urban centres. Based on my experience, the amount we have to cover the cost of a meal for a child in the Lower St. Lawrence is the same as for a child in the greater Longueuil area. However, we know that costs, particularly for food and transportation, are much higher in the regions. That's why there are fewer caterers and fewer resources in the regions trying to serve as many children as possible.

I would even suggest exploring group purchasing arrangements to see if these solutions could help us reduce our costs and make sure more resources are going directly to children.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Pagé.

We will begin the first round of six minutes with Ms. Falk.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for taking the time to be here today and to share their expertise with us.

As I said earlier—I'm not sure how many of you were here for the first hour—I'm from a riding that is rural in nature. You have to travel everywhere to get anything. When I met with one of the food banks, they said their biggest push for donations is at Christmastime. After last Christmas, they ran out of food by March. That has never happened before. They were trying to navigate this, but they were also trying to be more creative to be able to garner donations. I think the trend we're seeing, which is a little scary, is that the people who donated to food banks are now lining up to use the food banks. Some of them are dual-income families. The cost of everything is so expensive that this is just where they've landed.

I would like to start with Food Banks Canada.

Mr. McRoberts, thank you again for being here. We heard a lot of statistics today in the first hour. You also presented some statistics. At the end of the day, these are real Canadians. They're real people. They're not just numbers. They're not just something on a fact sheet. These are real people who are going hungry and making decisions: “Am I getting my medication? Am I going to fuel up the vehicle or eat?”

I'm wondering if you're able to share a couple of examples of the kinds of circumstances that are bringing people into the food banks.

[Nick McRoberts]

Yes. I'm happy to.

First off, I'm glad you recognize the creativity of food banks. We always say that if you have a problem, find a food banker. They will find a solution.

You're right to call out the fact that these are large numbers that can be hard to understand, and yet there are people behind them. We hear stories of individual families accessing food banks because of a number of compounding pressures. I don't want to give the idea that one single issue is causing people to access food banks.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

No. I'm not assuming that. I'm just wondering if there is a trend. Are we noticing job losses? Are we noticing the cost of everything, such as rent and that type of thing?

[Nick McRoberts]

It is the cost of everything. We see houses in the lowest-income quintile in the country spending more than 100% of their expendable income on housing, transportation and food costs. That leads to untenable situations where people are taking on more debt, accessing credit and that sort of thing. We're also seeing situations where 20% of food bank users are employed. The highest-cited reason for accessing a food bank is low or delayed wages.

Fundamentally, food bank usage is an income problem. We've heard from previous witnesses at this committee that we don't have a lack of food in Canada—and we don't; we have an issue with getting that food where it needs to go. We also have an issue with the amount of money people are taking home at the end of the day. Yes, it has to do with their expenses and how much money that's costing, but it also has to do with their access to such supports as employment insurance and the groceries and essentials rebate, which, while a welcome support, is not taking in the realities in northern Canada, for example.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

For sure. I would also add rural Canada in there as well, not just northern Canada.

Has Food Banks Canada noticed certain provinces or regions experiencing a sharp increase in food bank usage?

[Nick McRoberts]

Of course.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

Some of the prices in northern Canada are out of this world. I just saw a brick of cheese for $72. That's absolutely ludicrous. There's also acknowledging the fact that transportation costs have a big factor in that, especially when you have to ship something, which in other places would be countries over but here it is literally in the same country, Canada.

[Nick McRoberts]

Generally, food bank usage across the country has risen. In some provinces that has decreased in small amounts. That has more to do with food banks actually shutting down than fewer people accessing services.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

In which parts of the country is that decrease?

[Nick McRoberts]

It's in Newfoundland, for example. Mainly it's in the Atlantic provinces where we see a decrease.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

For what reason would they be shutting down?

[Nick McRoberts]

It could be for a number of reasons. I'm not going to speculate on why individual food banks may or may not cease services, but that has to do with the decrease in numbers. While we may see a decrease in some provinces, it's not necessarily representative of the long-term trend in that province, in Newfoundland, for example.

[Rosemarie Falk, Conservative, Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK]

Are you able to get those reasons to our committee so that we have an understanding of whether it's about operational cost, labour or the lack of people who have time to volunteer?

[Nick McRoberts]

We can pull individual statistics as much as possible. However, as a trend, 80% of food banks purchase food, and 21% or so of food banks turn people away because they are running out of food.