MP seeks to reduce hunger in schools
New Democrat lobbies for national program to provide nutritious meals, cut child obesity

Bruce Campion-Smith
Toronto Star, January 17, 2007

OTTAWA–Canada needs a national food program to reduce hunger pangs, as well as obesity, suffered by schoolchildren, New Democrat MP Olivia Chow says.

Chow will be joined by a doctor and national advocates this morning to press Ottawa for more funding and nationwide standards to provide nutritious snacks and meals for kids across Canada.

"For some kids this may be the only meal. I hate to say that but sometimes it is because of family income," Chow said in an interview yesterday.

"It's by no means a solution for poverty. But a lot of kids, if they go to school hungry, they cannot learn," she said.

"You can't concentrate on an empty stomach so it makes a big difference."

The Toronto MP (Trinity-Spadina) says she'll be seeking all-party support for her Children's Health and Nutrition Initiative, a program aimed at improving the eating habits of students. She says she's got the backing of nutritionists, food-program organizers, health officials, chefs and parents.

While poor kids are a focus, she notes that child obesity rates are inching up, suggesting that middle-class kids also need a prod towards healthy snacks.

"Seventy per cent of the kids don't eat enough fruits and vegetables," said Chow.

According to Statistics Canada, 5.5 million Canadian adults, some 23 per cent of the population, are considered obese. For children aged 2 to 17, the rate is 26 per cent. That 2004 study also found that children who consumed less fruit and vegetables were more likely to be overweight.

Breakfast for Learning, a Toronto-based group that encourages school food programs, says that 31 per cent of elementary school students and 62 per cent of high school students start their day without a nutritious breakfast.

"Canada remains one of the few developed countries without a national meal program for children, despite mounting evidence of the need for one," the organization says on its website.

Chow's drive for a national program was born in Toronto schools where she helped launch breakfast clubs during her years as a trustee in the mid-1980s. Today, such programs feed 80,000 students, she said.

"The experience in Toronto is that there's a dramatic improvement of children's health and academic performance in schools that have a decent food program," said Chow, who was child and youth advocate during her time on Toronto council.

She says similar programs are feeding children across the country – in church basements, community centres and school gymnasiums. But, she adds, organizers devote too much of their time simply trying to keep their programs afloat.

"It's a completely fragmented approach. Everybody tries their best. They end up spending a lot of their time trying to get donations to run the programs," Chow said.

She also wants national standards to ensure the food served at these programs is nutritious. "Having a food program where we serve lousy food defeats the purpose," she said.