WHEREAS nearly 5,000 children across the Northwest Territories arrive at school without having had a healthy breakfast;
AND WHEREAS school breakfast programs have increased attendance at many NWT schools;
AND WHEREAS it is well documented that hungry children struggle to succeed in school;
AND WHEREAS children who are fed at school also benefit from feeling welcomed and loved;
AND WHEREAS healthy eating and basic nutrition should be learned by our children, starting at a young age, first by example and augmented later by study;
AND WHEREAS in 2010-2011, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment allocated $400,000 for a breakfast and lunch program in NWT schools and contracted Food First Foundation to deliver it;
AND WHEREAS this nutrition program has been cut for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, without any formal evaluation of its effectiveness;
AND WHEREAS many educators, parents and especially children support the program, making such statements as, “it has made such a tremendous difference in our school,” and “I cannot think of another single initiative that gives so much for so little” and, “I like to eat breakfast;”
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment reinstate the sunsetting funding for healthy eating and nutrition programs.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this motion goes to the most basic of our Territory’s needs, that of supporting our people, and it goes to the heart of the philosophy that this government espouses.
According to our strategic planning document from October of 2007, we aim for healthy, educated people. We will accomplish that, we said in October 2007, by a focus on prevention by promoting healthy choices and lifestyles and the role of personal and family responsibility. A focus on prevention, like teaching kids what healthy foods are so they eat the right things and grow and develop as they should, like making sure they get to and stay in school so they learn well and easily. Promoting healthy choices and lifestyles, like teaching kids what unhealthy foods are so they choose the right foods to eat. Knowing which foods are good and which are not is important and kids must be taught the difference.
The other day I mentioned comments from NWT schools about the Healthy Food for Learning Program, Mr. Speaker. There are six pages of responses to one simple question: Can you share any specific success stories about the program? Thirty of our 49 schools sent in a response to that question. I’d say that’s an excellent indication that the program is a success. Twenty-three schools mentioned improved attendance as a result of the Healthy Foods for Learning Program. Academic achievement was mentioned 21 times as a measure of success. Eleven schools indicated that 50 percent or more of their student population comes to school hungry each morning. These are staggering statistics, Mr. Speaker, especially the last one.
Children don’t learn well, if at all, when they are hungry. They’re inattentive, not alert and are often disruptive, affecting the learning of others as well as themselves. Healthy, educated people, Mr. Speaker. The Healthy Foods for Learning Program goes a long way towards creating both healthy children and educated children. Witness a comment from one school which said this of a student: She has discovered that being in school and not missing instruction leads to school being easier. That’s what we want, Mr. Speaker, kids at school so they can learn. They sure don’t learn when they’re not in the classroom.
Both improved attendance and academic achievement are stated goals of the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, a major focus of the Education, Culture and Employment department at the moment. How then can this department eliminate funding for a program that will achieve the successes desired by the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative? That initiative wants better attendance. Well, this program achieves that. That initiative wants academic achievement. Well, this program achieves that too.
What evaluation of the Healthy Foods for Learning Program was done prior to the decision to scrap it? It can’t have been too comprehensive. My information shows that at least 30 of 49 schools think that the program is a success. I can only attribute the elimination of this funding to a lack of foresight and big picture vision.
This Assembly has just approved a budget which includes $1.8 million for the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, an increase of $500,000 from the current year budget, and much of that increase is going to staffing. In light of the success of the Healthy Foods for Learning Program, I have to say that the money would be better spent on the foods program.
We have to stop working top down, Mr. Speaker. We have to remember the basics. Educating our kids is paramount, and if the foods program helps us to get them to the school, then we should ensure that the program continues. Eliminating the funding for a successful, much needed foods program will not achieve healthy, educated people. Reduced funding will not contribute to the promotion of healthy choices and lifestyles. Another quote from a 42-year veteran of parenting and foster parenting about the needs for foods programs: I cannot think of another single initiative that gives so much for so little.
The answer to the question of whether or not to reinstate the funding for the Healthy Foods for Learning Program in the 2011-12 budget is a no brainer, Mr. Speaker. Considering the negative impacts on our children and for our Territory in the long run if we don’t reinstate the funding, the answer can only be yes. I believe in the saying where there’s a will, there’s a way, and it remains to be seen if there is a will on the part of this government to find a way to continue the funding for the Healthy Foods for Learning Program. Children are our most precious resource. They are our future. Are they not worth the money? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You have heard me speak many times about the price of food in our communities. The high price of food is one reason for kids sometimes going hungry in the morning. Families don’t always have the money to buy the food. I am sad to say this happens in our Territory, Mr. Speaker. Hungry children are hard-pressed to do well in school while their minds are on their stomachs. It is hard enough to deliver a good education to our children as it is without distracting them with hunger. Educators and parents say feeding students who show up for school hungry is a big help. It may even help attendance, which is another big problem. But in my community of Tuk, Mr. Speaker, this last week, there were 108 kids with perfect attendance for the last month.
---Applause
Educators and parents say feeding helps and yet the Department of Education cut the nutrition program for the year ahead without even proper evaluation of the program. Mr. Speaker, most likely saving the $400,000 the government spent on this program will end up costing much more in some other area. More importantly, this undermines the success of our children, Mr. Speaker.
The program was in the community, for example, for years. We haven’t been able to eat our traditional foods as much as we want. There is caribou and that and dry meat, as the Education Minister just said. It is hard. This program that was cut helped teach the children about healthy eating. That is important, especially in small communities with traditional diets that are changing.
Mr. Speaker, the school’s nutrition programs really helped. A little food shows our students that they are important. It shows that happiness and success is important too. It is very simple for the Education Minister to restore this funding for these programs. He should do it. It is not a lot of money if we spread the cost to 33 communities, but this does make a big difference to our children. I thank the Members for supporting this motion and helping get the message across loud and clear to the Minister of Education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. To the motion. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The key window of opportunity to feed the bodies and minds of our children and to support their brain development and their learning is their early years. The parents have a responsibility to feed their children properly, but as I have outlined in the House earlier and in my statements, they are not always able to meet that responsibility and there are many reasons for that. Do we want to let the children suffer the lifelong consequences of insufficient nutrition during their critical years, Mr. Speaker? Unfortunately, our lack of government action in response to repeated calls here in the House and our decisions on where to put money speaks louder than words.
Mr. Speaker, Breakfast for Learning notes that they were only able to respond to 38 percent of the requests for food from schools in the Northwest Territories over the past year. This is during the time that this government was putting in a one-time $400,000 in school food programs. That also is a statistic that speaks louder than words.
Mr. Speaker, we have spent four years requesting action on this front. Finally, I ask to join my colleagues and I thank the movers and seconders of this motion. Let`s get it done.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have spoken in this House in the past about absenteeism and the great cost of absenteeism to the education system and the great cost of absenteeism to our society and to our government. The one thing that I have been told in Tu Nedhe is that this Food First Program is something that actually had the kids come to school. We had kids that were absent on a regular basis that were now coming to school. Another thing that the Food First Program has done is that it allowed a lot of the students to show up on time because the kids knew that there was a certain window in the morning where they could come in and have something to eat and then they were off to class. They were in class on time, Mr. Speaker.
I support this motion. I don’t think the government should cut it. It created all kinds of positive things in one of the schools in Tu Nedhe. There was heavy parental involvement. The parents would come in early, get up early with their kids, bring their kids to school, cook for the rest of the school. It was very positive for the kids to be with some of the parents and to have a good meal. It was also good for educating students. There were a lot of students that were assisting. The older students were assisting younger kids to cook. They were in the kitchen. They were learning that aspect of life, at least. It was something that was done and, also, for healthy food, the schools made sure that the breakfast was serving healthy foods. That was beneficial so that at least the kids were getting one good healthy meal per day. Most of them were getting more than that, but this was something that was guaranteed.
As Mr. Jacobson indicated, the one aspect of the small communities is the cost of living. The cost of living is high here too in Yellowknife, as it is right across the Territory. This was a little opportunity again for people to feed their children. Their children were fed in the school. It was doing what it could. Lastly, I think this is leveraging our future. If we keep kids in school by giving them one good healthy meal, it would pay dividends in the future for many years. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. To the motion. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, will be supporting the motion. I feel, for one, that this is a critical program to not only include supporting our students, but more importantly, developing our communities so we do have healthy, vibrant communities and help the most vulnerable residents in our communities, which are the young students and young children in our communities, so that they are able to grow healthy lives and be a positive role model in our communities.
Mr. Speaker, this program is more than just having a breakfast program in the school. It builds relationships between the teachers, the students, the community, where the volunteers... This program is a majority of volunteers, by way of the parents, the high school students, the teachers, get together. They volunteer to deliver this program. It is no cost to government, if anything. It shows that the communities, by working together helping each other providing these types of programs, it is a building block of how people can help people in our society who may not have the means to provide the nutritional breakfast program without it.
I think, Mr. Speaker, it is important also for the students to realize that as you grow up, part of the value of life is more than just dollars and cents. It is helping those people in our society who may not be as fortunate as other children or other people in our community to help those people who may need a handout and help to basically get them moving forward. Again, Mr. Speaker, for a $400,000 investment throughout the Northwest Territories and also realizing that we have a lot of these individuals who are on income support, who are struggling, like Mr. Jacobson says, with the high cost of living in our communities, people are just making ends meet. People cannot afford to purchase nutritional foods, regardless if it is fruit, vegetables and making sure that we are able to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we realize that, as a government, we have to sometimes look at simply the dollar sign but realizing the value of these programs and how it helps us to not only develop our students in our communities but develop a community as a whole to help each other to be able to promote these programs and ensure we achieve what we say we are going to achieve, have healthy vibrant communities and that includes our children. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. To the motion. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One time in our life, I remember growing up, we used to eat at home. We used to have porridge when we were young and growing up in Tulita.
Sorry, when we were young. When I was growing up in Tulita, I remember, when I was young, I remember before we went to school Mom always got us up early and we made a fire if it was real cold in the house and heat up the little pot there and make porridge and we all would sit around and have breakfast, have porridge or have some wild meat, then we went to school. That was the lifestyle that we grew up with. Slowly on, Mr. Speaker, we started to see that the school had hot chocolate, macaroni and hardtack during lunch and I think a couple of times during the week. That was really good to have food in school, Mr. Speaker.
Little did I know, Mr. Speaker, even at that age some kids would come to school without breakfast. They had hot chocolate and macaroni, hardtack and they just really enjoyed eating that in school.
Just recently we started to witness and even hear children coming to school without breakfast in our communities. That is unheard of. You know, then I started to see where school and the community started working together to raise money working with oil companies or working on different projects that they started to get extra dollars to bring the food into the school and have a program going there. That was one of the best moves that the schools in the communities have done, bringing breakfasts into the school. A lot of kids aren’t eating breakfast anymore. That’s the way we have it now.
The government has invested $400,000 into this project. We looked at it and it’s a good project; however, we don’t have the money, so it might not be funded anymore. Take out the nutritious foods, healthy eating in the schools, you guys go fend for yourselves. You go negotiate with the oil companies if you can get a deal. You raise your own funding. Our schools are into fundraising initiatives now. Kids should get good credit for fundraising to the programs they go to.
This government here is for the people, by the people and even those little people’s health. And they’re worth it. They are worth the investment. Surely we must reconsider this and give up something or sacrifice something for the good of the little ones, for an investment. Somewhere we can take some money out and put that back into the school or help the school. Just don’t drop the ball on this like a hot potato in the communities. We can look at somewhere where we can work with them. I think that’s what this motion is saying. That’s why I strongly support it. We cannot let our people go hungry, especially the little ones. We’ve done this, Mr. Speaker. It has cost a lot in our communities and by not investing, it’s going to cost us more, I think, I’m afraid.
I think this government here has very been vocal in some of its initiatives. They’ve showed some great leadership in some of their initiatives, that they can give this type of initiative another look at and see where this motion can be supported and they can look back and say where can we find the funding. For example, do you know that we have over 180 inmates in the North Slave Centre here and every morning their meals get wheeled to them? I think they could sacrifice breakfast for these little ones here. That’s something we should look at. We’ve got to think about everything, how we can bring this money to the little ones here.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would just say this is a good motion and I’m going to be supportive 100 percent.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say I’m rising to support the motion put forward by Ms. Bisaro. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I’ll go to the mover of the motion for closing comments, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to first of all thank the seconder of the motion, the Member for Nunakput. I’d also like to thank my colleagues for their comments. I think you can tell that this is an extremely important issue. We are very passionate about it. Regular Members have fought very hard to get this funding and this program into our budget. Last year it was intended to be a food study and we managed to get that changed to a program where we could actually use the money to go and buy food to assist the kids in our schools in the various communities.
We’ve been speaking about this issue, the need for providing funding for healthy foods, for nutrition, making healthy choices. We’ve been talking about this since we started in this Assembly, as my colleague Mr. Bromley has mentioned.
I want to mention, too, that the money that is in this current budget year has been distributed according to the contractor by need. So those communities that have higher food costs, where the food prices are far more than they are, say, in Yellowknife, those communities, those schools get more funding than schools in communities where the food prices are lower. That’s a great way to go. But we are basically saying, as my colleague to my left has said, we are leaving the schools to fend for themselves. We are leaving the schools to try to find another method to get the kids to come to school. We are leaving the schools to try to struggle again to increase academic achievement. Both of those things have been proven to be successful through this program, and I’m failing to understand that the department, without an evaluation, is going to cut this funding.
Recently we heard from the Minister of Transportation that we’ve increased the Community Access Program from $320,000 to $1 million. That’s $680,000. I support the fact that communities need some assistance in trails and boat launches and so on, but if push came to shove when you ask the parents whether they would rather have their children have a healthy breakfast or whether they want a trail to wherever, I suspect the answer would be food.
I think in this particular case I have to say that I think the government has put their priority in the wrong place. I think really if the government believes in the success of this program and it has contributed to better attendance, higher academic achievement and better learning at school, the department and the government will look at the budget, will find the money. If we take some from each department, we can do it from within. As I said, where there’s a will, there’s a way. I believe it could be done if they want to do it.
On that note, Mr. Speaker, I will ask for a recorded vote, and thanks to my colleagues.
