As food costs remain on the rise, many parents and caregivers are struggling to afford healthy food for their families. In Canada, one in four children live in food insecure households - rates we know are significantly higher in northern, Indigenous communities.
School food programs are a lifeline for these families, providing reliable access to nutritious food for young learners. This supports increased learning & health outcomes for kids, while decreasing grocery bills for families.
The Yukon Food For Learning Association (YFFLA) knows this. Since the 1990s, the YFFLA has promoted and supported school food programming across the Yukon. Working to secure and administer funding for territorial school food programs, this non-profit organization plays a key role in increasing access to school food services & promoting food literacy.
The Yukon First Nations Education Directorate (YFNED) also knows this. Since 2020, YFNED has been leaders in school food programming for Indigenous students. Not only has their Nutrition Team ensured reliable access to in-school meal services throughout the territory, but they have also provided food hampers, family feasts, and other nutritional supports.
The federal government also sees the benefit in improved student access to nutritious food. Introduced in April 2024, the National School Food Program committed $1 billion to school food over five years. In October 2025, the Government of Canada moved to make this program permanent, providing $216.6 million per year starting in 2029-30.
Through the Canada - Yukon National School Food Program Agreement, our territorial government will be receiving approximately $7.4 million for school food programs across the Yukon from 2024-2027. Though this may seem sufficient for students in our communities, this funding amounts to $1.44 per child per day - not nearly enough to meet the nutritional needs of our youth.
Since 2020, YFNED has run Urban and Rural Nutrition Programs in schools across the territory. Their Urban Nutrition Program provides breakfast and lunch service for all Indigenous students attending Whitehorse schools. Partnering with YFFLA, this program is also able to offer select food services to some non-Indigenous students as well.
However, at the start of the 2025 school year, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) denied funding to YFNEDs Rural Nutrition Program. Responses to this termination have varied across communities, from emergency funding through First Nations governments & development corporations, to stopgap funding & corporate investments, to the complete cessation of the program. This has left many Indigenous students living in rural Yukon communities without access to essential school food services.
In January 2026, the Yukon government announced that it is “expanding access to healthy food in the territory’s schools” through measures funded by the National School Food Program. These include a hot lunch pilot program, school kitchen improvements, developing territory-wide Healthy Food Guidelines, and continued support for other school food programs.
The hot lunch pilot program will be delivered in partnership with YFNED to only seven participating schools across Whitehorse and rural Yukon. The program seeks to gather data, address challenges, and guide improvements to school food programs across the territory, though expansion beyond the selected schools is only a possibility.
We applaud the national and territorial governments for taking steps to safeguard youth health and wellbeing, recognizing this program as a positive stride toward offering school food for every student in the Yukon.
Unfortunately, we must also acknowledge that many children and families remain without access to these essential supports. Federal funding can only provide meaningful food distribution in a handful of schools, since allocation of these funds across all schools would amount to less than $2 per student per day.
As a result, three-quarters of schools in the Yukon are left out of this new program, with no guarantee that they will receive future access. In the meantime, the unjust onus continues to be placed on communities to fill critical gaps and shoulder responsibilities that should be met through stable, equitable territorial investment. Currently, the Yukon ranks last of the territories and 10th overall in Canada for per student investment in school food.
A phased rollout of this program presents a strong opportunity to deepen collaboration and build a sustainable foundation for the future. Therefore, we must continue advocating for universal school food programs that meet the needs of all Yukon learners. Achieving this requires continued collaboration and greater territorial investment to supplement funding from the National School Food Program, ensuring all Yukon youth are acknowledged and nourished.
At the Diversifying Food Systems Conference in August 2025, the Yukon Food Security Network brought together voices from across the territory for a conversation on school food.
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