The Department of Social Development is hiring researchers to verify the real-world impact of its $200 million-a-year school lunch program, after earlier claims by the federal government were criticized as inflated and unsupported.In a statement, the department said it would spend $1.3 million in grants to fund research partnerships that will study the outcomes of school food initiatives. “The goal is to build a strong, evidence-based program,” it said.The research is intended to address what the department called “key gaps in knowledge related to school food programming in Canada” and ensure future policies are rooted in actual community needs..The National School Food Program was announced by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on April 1, 2024, who called it a “game changer” and pledged it would reach 400,000 more children. At $200 million per year, the funding works out to roughly $2.78 per child per school day.“The program will take pressure off families, spend directly in the future of our kids and make sure they’re able to reach their potential feeling healthy and happy,” Trudeau said at the time. He also claimed the program would save parents about $800 per child annually, a figure repeated by then-Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds but never explained..Critics say the numbers don’t add up. In 2024 Senate testimony, the Breakfast Club of Canada told the national finance committee that $2.78 per day was not enough to provide adequate meals. “We would need at least $3 to $6 per day,” said co-founder Judith Barry, noting that it would take billions to fully support Canada’s schoolchildren over 180 school days.Barry said about a million students — just 20% of the population — are currently enrolled in school food programs. She cited 2023 research from the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine that found the average cost per meal was $6.45, more than double the federal estimate. In British Columbia, meal costs reached $9.86.Despite the cost discrepancies, the federal government has continued to promote the program as both affordable and transformative.
