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Can Toronto Make School Meals Universal? Here’s the Plan

On Feb. 26, the City-School Boards Advisory Committee met in City Hall to discuss expanding Toronto's Student Nutrition Program to more schools.

Toronto’s Student Nutrition Program is run by volunteers.
: Toronto Catholic District School Board.

Karen Chan

A Chinatown-based artist, graduate of University of British Columbia and a bunny mom. She is interested in storytelling to build community.

Feb. 27, 2025

These city meeting notes are part of Documenters Canada. Learn more about our program here. 

We all know we can’t focus when we’re hungry.

Forty per cent of children go to school without having eaten breakfast, according to a survey by the Toronto District School Board.

The Student Nutrition Program addresses this issue by providing a healthy breakfast, lunch and snack to over 243,000 kids every day in the school year.

Dr. Na-Koshie Lamptey, the acting medical officer of health, and Myuran Palasandiran, the director of operations and business services at Toronto Public Health, gave a presentation on building a universal student food program in Toronto.

Dr. Lamptey said that the city is taking steps to expand the program and its coverage. 

• To date, the nutrition program is operational in 75 per cent of Toronto’s schools. 
• The city announced a vision to provide a universal morning meal by September 2026 and a universal lunch by September 2030. 
• In December 2024, Mayor Olivia Chow declared a food insecurity emergency in the city and asked the provincial government to increase funding to school food programs. Also in December, City Council approved 23 more school nutrition programs that will reach 8,000 additional students starting January 2025.
• In the 2025 budget discussion, Toronto Public Health increased funding for student nutrition programs by $6.886 million. This increase allows the program to expand to 25 new schools. It also allows existing programs to reach 13,500 new students.

However, according to Lamptey’s presentation, existing sources of funding don't cover all program costs. The program is funded by three different sources: 

1. Governmental funding, which includes $4.7 million from federal funding, $8.5 million from provincial funding and $21.9 million from the City of Toronto. 
2. Non-governmental funding, such as parent fundraising, corporate donations and grants. 
3. Non-monetary funding, which includes food and equipment gifts, as well as the labour of parents, volunteers and students who run the program.
   

Neethan Shan, chair and trustee at the Toronto District School Board, asked Palasandiran how the city is supporting schools who need the Student Nutrition Program but have limitations that keeps them from implementing it. Palasandiran said the city progressively supports schools who lack the infrastructure (for example, a sink for washing food) by providing boxed snack meals first. Then, it introduces freshly cut and washed fruits and vegetables. 

Geneviève Oger, Viamonde school board trustee for western Toronto, encouraged the City-School Boards Advisory Committee to allow schools some flexibility in the timing of the snack program. Some schools may want to implement it during homework help programs instead of breakfast or lunch, she explained. 

What were the results of the discussion?

The City-School Boards Advisory Committee recommended that City Council request the federal government to shift any unspent money from the 2025 budget in the National Student Food Program to Toronto’s programs. 

The committee also recommended that City Council request the newly elected Government of Ontario to increase its per-student financial contribution levels in a way that would match or exceed the city’s contributions to the Student Nutrition Program.

Fact-Check Yourself

Sources and
further reading

Don't take our word for it —
check our sources for yourself.

City of Toronto

Update on the Universal Student Food Program in Toronto

City of Toronto

Declaring Food Insecurity an Emergency

City of Toronto

Building a Universal Student Food Program in Toronto

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The post Can Toronto make school meals universal? Here’s the plan appeared first on The Green Line.

City Hall, alongside two London-based economic development groups, announced the first steps toward shoring up the local economy in the face of the threat of crushing tariff threats from the United States, Wednesday.

Thursday is election day in Ontario and the province’s four major parties are making their final strides to win over voters. CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp breaks down the last day of the Ontario election campaign.

In case you haven't been closely following the Ontario election campaign over the past month, here's a quick look at the ground that's been covered by the four main party leaders — and the issues that have shaped the campaign.

The group of businesses claim they weren't properly consulted over a stretch of bike lanes connecting Bloor West Village to the Kingsway neighbourhood. The province has already introduced legislation that could see the bike lanes in the area removed.

With the deadline for the expiration of Hamilton’s much-maligned encampment protocol a week away, there were some uncomfortable questions and answers at Hamilton GIC committee. Staff, on more than one occasion used the phrase “managing expectations” as they told councillors the encampments at Pier 4 and Bayfront parks will not disappear overnight, but that best efforts will be made to have them clear of tents as soon as practical. That did not sit well with Councillors Jackson and Pauls, Jackson saying he will be watching enforcement activities closely in coming weeks. But it was councillor Maureen Wilson who reminded staff that it was the expectation of residents in the Barton-Tiffany area that in return for tolerating the tiny shelter encampment, they would at least have the two bayfront parks cleared of tents. The councillor pinned down staff to provide a clear answer on what to expect with the two parks.

Councillor Mike Spadafora also had a message for staff, that given the amount of money Hamilton council is spending on homelessness, they need to get more aggressive about weeding out out-of-towners who are coming to Hamilton to take advantage of an encampment system that is more generous that some neighbouring communities. The issue also came up at the Hamilton Centre Provincial all-candidates meeting last week when Liberal Candidate Eileen Walker spoke about meeting a homeless person from Guelph who had been given a bus ticket to Hamilton.

Representatives of Hamilton Police were on hand. They said that over the two years they have been involved with encampments they have developed relationships with many encampment residents. They also said their instances of use of force to clear encampments could be “counted on one hand.”

The city is planning a media tour of the Barton-Tiffany complex on Friday, as they announced this week that they had begun receiving residents. They Bay Observer learned that the first residents began to move in nearly two weeks ago, when residents in the area started receiving leaflets from the city.

Several councillors talked about compassion in their discussion of the issue, not necessarily in a positive way. What was clear is that despite staff’s effort to “manage expectations” of council, expectations are nonetheless high that the spring and summer of 2025 will see a significant improvement in the situation in city parks. Staff have promised to provide regular progress reports to council on the issue and the first one will come in June.

As part of a class on Black Latin American and Caribbean history, a roundtable at McMaster University in Hamilton hears from Afro-Latinx scholars about race, culture, migration and diasporic identities.

First Nations chiefs in Ontario have overwhelmingly approved a carve-out agreement on child and family services reform, after the Assembly of First Nations rejected a $47.8-billion national offer last fall.

The day before the 2025 Ontario election, the PC, NDP and Liberal leaders planned visits to Hamilton and Niagara. One politics professor says that indicates they believe local ridings could be close races.

Ontario's coroner's office will hold an inquest this spring into the double-decker bus crash that killed three people and injured dozens of others at Westboro station in Ottawa in 2019.

Unless there are two people wearing a Boston Red Sox toque going around robbing banks at knifepoint, it appears Hamilton Police and Niagara Police are looking for the same guy. Niagara Police reported two armed robberies in the region yesterday, and released photos that appear to be the same person who robbed two Hamilton banks earlier this month. Yesterday, Niagara Police were called to the TD Canada Trust on Dorchester Road in the City of Niagara Falls. Police say the lone male suspect entered the bank, brandished a knife and demanded cash from the employees. The suspect received an undisclosed amount of currency, and fled the area north bound on Dorchester Road towards Highway 420. Half an hour later the robber showed up at a Meridien Credit Union branch in St Catharines and did the same thing.

 Hamilton Police had already issued a news release with pictures of what appeared to be the same individual pulling off two bank robberies in the east end of Hamilton. The Hamilton pictures shoe a man wearing a Boston Red Sox toque and with a similar appearance to the photos released by Niagara Police.

There were no injuries reported in any of the incidents.

If anybody sees the individual, they are encouraged to contact police either in Hamilton or Niagara.

A concerning trend is on the rise across Canada, where scammers are going to victims’ homes in a new bank fraud scheme. CBC’s Nicole Williams explains how to protect yourself.

U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports is pushing some local companies to seek out new suppliers north of the border.

The Ottawa writer discussed We Could Be Rats on Bookends with Mattea Roach.

A 16-year old is facing multiple weapons charges after London police seized a loaded Glock handgun and a sawed-off shotgun from a home in the city's southeast-end.

Ontario's Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford says he wants to be premier "forever" as he looks to secure a third consecutive majority government in Thursday's election.

At its February 24, 2025 meeting, Council:

• Adopted an Engineer’s Report dated February 5, 2025, prepared by Dillon Consulting Limited pursuant to Section 78 of the Drainage Act in respect of the Tully Meleg Drain for the MTO Widening Project.
• Approved certain road closures for the 2025 Migration Festival Parade (October 18, 2025) and the 2025 Fantasy of Lights Parade (November 16, 2025), respectively.
• Approved the 2025 Kingsville Community Grant Awards, as amended.

Council Briefs are intended to be a quick summary following Council meetings. Council Briefs do not replace the official minutes, which are published following adoption at the next scheduled Council meeting.

If you have any questions about the summary provided above, please email [email protected].

The post Council Brief from February 24, 2025 Town of Kingsville Meeting appeared first on Kingsville Times.

Drive with extra caution and an eye to the pavement as some Essex County roads may have been damaged recently by weather conditions.

Freezing water can create large cracks or boils in road pavement that appear suddenly when mild winter weather is followed by snow and colder temperatures. County of Essex roads maintenance staff are patrolling to identify locations of concern, so drivers can be alerted and repairs made.

Please slow down when you see roads maintenance vehicles and workers, traffic cones, and barricades. If you come upon a damaged area on a County of Essex road, you can report the location by calling 519-326-8691 or using our online Report a Problem form.

The post Beware of Road Damage Due to Freezing appeared first on Kingsville Times.