The Breakfast Club, facing a significant increase in requests, aims to implement its program within five years in 668 schools in disadvantaged areas in Quebec that are still underserved. This initiative is estimated to cost $73.5 million over five years.
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According to the Quebec Statistics Institute, Côte-Nord, Estrie, Laval and Outaouais are the four regions with the highest proportion of at-risk 5-year-old kindergarten children.
In Outaouais, more than 3,500 children still do not have access to the breakfast program.
According to the organization, these are 16 schools in disadvantaged areas, or 25% of the schools in Outaouais.
This is despite the fact that between 2019 and 2023, the number of children in care in Quebec increased from 40,000 to around 80,000.
“What we are asking the government to do today is […] to provide equity for all children in disadvantaged areas so that they can rely on healthy food to start their day. […] We want to support their academic success,” said Marie-Josée Lapratte, Quebec government and community relations manager, for the Breakfast Club.
More and more families are finding themselves in a financially precarious situation and needing to cover food aid, worrying the organization, which is struggling to meet growing demand.