Madam Speaker, the second petition I am presenting today comes from the Lord Strathcona Public School community in my riding of Kingston and the Island.
The petitioners are specifically calling upon the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food to develop and prioritize funding for a national school food program through budget 2024 for implementation in schools by the fall of 2025.
The petition draws attention to the fact that Statistics Canada data from 2022 indicates that one in four children in Canada lives in a food-insecure household, that Canada is the only G7 country without a national school food program, and that school food programs are recognized around the world as essential to health, well-being and education of students, with over 388 million children in at least 161 countries receiving free or subsidized school meals at their schools.