I was signed up to speak at the budget committee meeting, but my number came up late last night when I couldn’t be there. So I thought I’d put what I was going to say at City Hall here instead (with some additions).
My mom runs a student nutrition program at a high school in Eastern Ontario. The program is one of the few that provides both breakfast and lunch to students. Between the 2009-2010 school year and the current school year the number of students who use the program has doubled. What was once considered an incredibly busy lunch hour is now standard.
Despite the numbers showing a need, one teacher commented that he didn’t know why they were feeding kids for free, since that’s not what school is for. Beside being pretty heartless, that kind of thinking is also just plain wrong. And that same sentiment is being expressed in this budget. Schools are meant to ensure students can learn and grow, and must provide them with the tools to do so. Part of that means making sure they’re well fed with healthy food so that they can concentrate in class.
And while these programs are first and foremost about food, they’re also about more than that. They’re about removing stigmas as kids from families of all income levels share a free meal together. They’re about building community. They’re about providing kids who may be having problems at home a level of comfort to speak with an adult, so that they might finally open up about dangerous situations.
Food costs are rising and salaries are not. Nutrition programs are incredibly cost effective way to combat this problem. The infrastructure is in place – all you need is the food, which can be purchased in bulk and is often donated or discounted.
If it weren’t for nutrition programs, some kids wouldn’t have a single healthy meal in a day – for reasons that are often, but not always, economic. My mom once told me something a student said to her that has stuck with me ever since. Think back to when you were a kid. You lived for the weekend. You couldn’t wait for the bell to ring on Friday. But that’s not true for every kid. Because what this student said to her was:
“The weekdays are my favourite because I get to have two meals, and on the weekends I only get one.”
I urge city councillors who might be considering voting to remove funding from 58 nutrition programs, affecting 14,000 students, to keep that sentence in mind as you vote. I urge you to think about that before you throw up your hands and say we simply can’t afford to pay for it. (If we can’t, it’s because this administration cut off revenue streams and ate up an inherited surplus while crying “budget crisis!” – so it’s up to you to fix it.)
And I strongly challenge those same councillors to walk a mile in the shoes of the people affected by the proposed cuts. Spend a week getting by on one meal a day, while still trying to perform all of your regular duties. When one deputant asked which budget committee members took the TTC, almost no hands were raised. She invited those councillors to ride the 36 Finch bus. I’d like to echo her comments. Take the TTC, not just once or twice, but everywhere you have to go for a week. And make sure you don’t hop in a cab if you’re going to be late for an important appointment, because most transit riders can’t afford that luxury.
Also – for the love of God, stop yelling at or otherwise harassing people who’ve come to depute. Stop demanding that they detail exactly how to pay for the services they want to save. It’s embarrassing. Each council member is paid $99,619.52 a year. It’s your job to figure out who to build the Toronto that its residents want to see. Yes, residents. All of them. Not just the ones who pay property taxes. Taxes paid do not equal your standing as a resident of this city.
