Feds commit $11M to free breakfast program for New Brunswick students
Premier Susan Holt says plan still remains to introduce pay-what-you-can lunches
Millions in federal funding will provide for a universal free breakfast program for all New Brunswick school children, with $11.2 million coming via the the National School Food Program.
Jenna Sudds, federal minister of Families, Children and Social Development Minister, said an agreement was reached with the province.
"Nobody should be at school hungry," Sudds said at an official announcement at École Mgr-François-Bourgeois in Shediac on Friday.
According to a news release from the province, the government already provides breakfast for students in 135 schools, while community groups provide snacks and breakfasts to the other 160 schools.
But the new funding will allow all New Brunswick school students to have free, healthy breakfasts through the end of the 2026-27 school year, the release says.
In September, the New Brunswick Liberals promised the universal breakfast program and a pay-what-you-can lunch program, at a cost of $27.4-million annually.
The provincial plan is still to have that lunch program, but the announcement on Friday was regarding the federal support for the free breakfast, Premier Holt said.
Holt said the program is important because it will allow students to be able to focus better in class and teachers won't need to worry about hungry kids.
"We need to make sure that every kid in New Brunswick has a chance to learn, and their best chance to learn comes when their basic needs are met," she said.
"It can be impossible to focus when you're wrestling with not only being hungry, but the stigma of being hungry or being the kid that doesn't have the same lunch as everyone else."
Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island have also signed agreements through the school food program.
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With files from Radio-Canada