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Canada – New Brunswick National School Food Program Agreement – 2024 to 2027

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Referred to collectively as the "Parties".

Definitions

"Fiscal year" means the period commencing on April 1 of any calendar year and terminating on March 31 of the immediately following calendar year.

"Public Announcement" means an intentional release of information to the media by Canada, New Brunswick or by an entity with whom New Brunswick has an agreement in relation to the National School Food Program or the funding of the National School Food Program by Canada and includes but is not limited to press releases, statements, interviews, speaking engagements and official ceremonies.

"School year" means the period covered by school calendars adopted by school boards, excluding summer holidays.

Preamble

Whereas, Canada and New Brunswick are in agreement with the Vision, Principles, Scope and Objectives outlined in the National School Food Policy;

Whereas, Canada and New Brunswick have committed to work together to establish the National School Food Program notwithstanding that the Government of New Brunswick has the primary responsibility for the design and delivery of school food programs in New Brunswick;

Whereas, pursuant to section 10 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act (DESDA), the federal Minister has the authority to enter into an agreement for the purpose of facilitating the formulation, coordination and implementation of any program or policy relating to the powers, duties and functions conferred by DESDA;

Whereas, the New Brunswick Education Act, Section 50(1) authorizes the New Brunswick Ministers to enter into agreements with the Government of Canada under which Canada undertakes to provide funding toward costs incurred by the Government of New Brunswick for the provision of school food programming;

Whereas, Canada has, pursuant to its Policy on Transfer Payments, established a transfer payment program to provide funds to the provincial and territorial governments for the development and delivery of school food programs and services;

Whereas, in recognition of the unique rights of Indigenous peoples and Canada's commitments to reconciliation and self-determination as per the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and associated "Action Plan", and the "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action", Canada strongly supports and endorses the Parties' respective engagement with First Nations, Inuit, Métis governments and organizations, as well as organizations representing, urban and non-affiliated Indigenous Peoples with a view of determining Indigenous school food priorities and enhancing Indigenous food security, health, and social outcomes;

Whereas, New Brunswick invests in school food for Indigenous children attending New Brunswick-operated schools, Canada and New Brunswick agree to work collaboratively with Indigenous governing bodies and organizations to achieve a culturally appropriate National School Food Program;

Whereas, Canada and New Brunswick recognize that engaging with Official Language Minority Community organizations, taking into account the uniqueness, diversity and historical and cultural contribution of Official Language Minority Communities, and providing services to them in the official language of their choice are critical to the vitality of those communities;

Whereas, the Government of Canada has obligations under the Official Languages Act to provide communications and services to the public in both official languages;

Now therefore, Canada and New Brunswick agree as follows:

1.0 Vision for a National School Food Program

1.1 Canada and New Brunswick agree that the investment of funds provided under this Agreement will advance the long-term Vision, Principles, Scope and Objectives for school food, which are set out in the National School Food Policy, attached as Annex 1.

1.2 Canada and New Brunswick agree that the funds being provided under this Agreement may be used to complement the additional objectives set out in Annex 2 and which align with the National School Food Policy.

2.0 School Food Objectives and Areas of Investment

2.1 Commitments

2.1.1 Canada and New Brunswick agree that with the funds allocated over the period of this Agreement, New Brunswick will enhance and expand school food programming by addressing local, regional and system priorities, towards achieving the following objectives:

  1. using federal funding to advance the Objectives outlined in the National School Food Policy, with flexibility to add additional, complementary objectives that align with Indigenous priorities and with New Brunswick's priorities described in paragraph 1.2;
  2. ensuring that investments funded through this Agreement consider the specific needs of Indigenous children attending New Brunswick-operated schools;
  3. considering, and where appropriate implementing, options beyond federal-provincial/territorial funding for increasing school food investment to reach more students, in alignment with best practices (e.g., pay-what-you-can models).

2.1.2 New Brunswick's approach to achieving these objectives is set out in the requirements for their Action Plan attached as Annex 3.

2.2 Eligible Areas for Allocating Federal Investments

2.2.1 New Brunswick agrees to invest funds provided by Canada under this Agreement to enhance and expand school food programs where:

  1. delivery of programs and services is in accordance with the Principles and Objectives outlined in the National School Food Policy. New Brunswick will consider that funding support programs and services delivered predominately by not-for-profit entities, where possible, however, New Brunswick recognizes there may also be a role for entities that are for-profit in programs and services where it would be beneficial or where there is value for money in terms of price, quality, and quantity when partnering with third-party organizations on program and service delivery;
  2. for purposes of 2.2.1.a, school food programs and services are defined as those supporting direct provision of food to children in settings including, but not limited to, elementary schools, secondary schools, and community centres;
  3. at least 95% of the federal funding must be allocated to eligible expenses (as defined in this Agreement) for the provision of school food during the school year;
  4. for the purposes of paragraph 2.2.1.c, funding for school food programs and services delivered in advance of, or during, school holidays that occur during the school year are considered during the school year.

2.2.2 Subject to Canada's approval, eligible expenditures could include the following: food purchases; staffing; infrastructure that facilitates the preparation, delivery, or safe storage of food; transportation; equipment; and logistics, provided those expenses directly support school food programming. Eligible expenditures could also include program capital and operating costs, quality assurance, administrative and overhead costs, and other expenses necessary to support the delivery of programming.

2.3 Official Languages

2.3.1 New Brunswick commits to enhance the vitality of the French and English linguistic minority communities in New Brunswick and to foster the full recognition and use of both French and English in New Brunswick so as to support and assist in their development.

2.3.2 New Brunswick agrees to consult with Official Language Minority Community stakeholders about New Brunswick's school food programming and the measures under this Agreement, to report on such, and to take such into account throughout as it implements school food programming in New Brunswick (including in relation the provision of programming and services by third parties) in order to foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canada.

2.3.3 New Brunswick agrees to actively offer any communication or services funded through this Agreement in both official languages in equal quality and simultaneously to the public, as per Part IV of the Official Languages Act. This includes, but is not limited to, documents, publications, announcements, reports, and engagement and consultations sessions.

3.0 Period of Agreement

3.1 This Agreement shall come into force upon the date of the last signature being affixed, and will remain in effect until March 31, 2027, unless terminated in writing by Canada or by New Brunswick in terms hereof in paragraph 11.0. Funding provided under this Agreement, in accordance with paragraph 4.0, will cover the period from August 1, 2024, to March 31, 2027.

3.2 Renewal of bilateral agreements

3.2.1 Subject to Parliamentary approval of appropriations, funding (in accordance with federal fiscal years) in future years, including for the period extending from April 1, 2027, to March 31, 2029, will be provided by Canada to New Brunswick conditional upon the execution of a subsequent bilateral funding Agreement ("Renewal Agreement"). The renewal of a subsequent agreement will provide New Brunswick and Canada the opportunity to review priorities and, if required, realign new priorities based on progress made to date.

4.0 Financial Provisions

4.1 The funds provided under this Agreement are in addition to and not in lieu of those that Canada currently pays to New Brunswick through the Canada Social Transfer in order to support school food programming within New Brunswick.

4.2 Allocation to New Brunswick

4.2.1 Subject to parliamentary approval of appropriations, Canada has designated the following maximum amounts to be paid in total to all provinces and territories under this initiative.

  1. $70,119,934 for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2024
  2. $140,239,869 for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2025
  3. $140,239,869 for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2026

4.2.2 The final amount to be paid to New Brunswick for a given fiscal year will be calculated using the following formula:

B + T + ( F × K L )

where:

4.2.3 New Brunswick's share of the total annual maximum amount for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2024, as set out in 4.2.1.a is $2,844,753.

4.2.4 New Brunswick's estimated share of the total annual maximum amounts described in paragraph 4.2.1, subject to annual adjustment, will be as follows.

  1. $4,194,546 for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2025
  2. $4,194,546 for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2026

4.2.5 For the purposes of the formula in paragraph 4.2.2, the population of New Brunswick for each fiscal year and the total population of all provinces and territories for that fiscal year are the respective populations as determined on the basis of the quarterly preliminary estimates of the respective populations on July 1 of the preceding fiscal year released in September of the preceding fiscal year by Statistics Canada, or the latest available quarterly preliminary estimates of the preceding year should the July 1 estimates be unavailable.

4.3 Payment

4.3.1 Canada's contribution for fiscal year 2024 to 2025 will be paid in one installment.

  1. The installment will be paid within 30 days of the date on which signatures from both Parties are affixed to the Agreement.

4.3.2 Subject to Parliamentary approval of appropriations, beginning in fiscal year 2025 to 2026, Canada's contribution will be paid in two equal semi-annual installments.

  1. The first installment will be paid on or about May 31 reflecting approximately 50 percent of the notional amount as set out in paragraph 4.2.4.
  2. The second installment will be paid on or about November 15 reflecting the remaining 50 percent of the actual amount as set out in paragraph 4.2.4.

4.3.3 Beginning in fiscal year 2025 to 2026, Canada will notify New Brunswick at the beginning of each fiscal year of their notional amount. The notional amount will be based on the Statistics Canada quarterly preliminary population estimates on July 1 of the preceding fiscal year. Canada will notify New Brunswick of the actual amount of the second installment in each fiscal year as determined under the formula set out in paragraph 4.2.2 as soon as possible following the release in September of each year of the Statistics Canada quarterly preliminary population estimates referred to in paragraph 4.2.5.

4.3.4 In fiscal year 2025 to 2026, Canada may withhold payment of its first installment for the fiscal year and any further installments if New Brunswick has failed to provide its Action Plan for fiscal years 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027, in accordance with paragraph 5.1.4, until such time as the Action Plan is provided by New Brunswick and approved by Canada.

4.3.5 Beginning in fiscal year 2025 to 2026, Canada may withhold payment of its second installment for the fiscal year and any further installments if New Brunswick has failed to provide its Annual Report and audited financial statement for the previous fiscal year in accordance with paragraphs 5.2.2 and 5.3.1 until such time as the Annual Report and annual audited statement are provided by New Brunswick and approved by Canada.

4.3.6 The sum of both semi-annual installments constitutes a final payment and is not subject to any further adjustment once the second installment of that fiscal year has been paid, unless there is a debt due to Canada, which requires repayment in accordance with paragraph 4.6.

4.4 Maximum annual repayment in respect of administration costs

4.4.1 Canada's payment for New Brunswick's administration costs referred to in paragraph 2.2.2 shall not exceed in the fiscal years covered under this Agreement an amount of up to or equal to 10% of the maximum amount payable for those fiscal years.

4.4.2 For the purposes of 4.4.1, administration costs mean, but are not limited to costs incurred for the administration of activities pursuant to New Brunswick's obligations as outlined in Agreement paragraphs 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 and 6.1.

4.5 Use of funds

4.5.1 Canada and New Brunswick agree that funds provided by Canada under this Agreement will only be used by New Brunswick in accordance with the areas for investment outlined in paragraph 2.2 of this Agreement and consistent with the National School Food Policy.

4.5.2 At the end of fiscal year 2024 to 2025, New Brunswick may retain for use in fiscal year 2025 to 2026 reasonable unexpended funds remaining from New Brunswick 's fiscal year 2024 to 2025 funding disbursed under this Agreement, up to a maximum of 100% of their fiscal year 2024 to 2025 allocation.

4.5.3 At the end of fiscal year 2025 to 2026, New Brunswick may retain for use in fiscal year 2026 to 2027 reasonable unexpended funds remaining from New Brunswick's fiscal year 2025 to 2026 funding disbursed under this Agreement, up to a maximum of 30% of their fiscal year 2025 to 2026 allocation, with Canada's approval.

4.6 Repayment of overpayment

4.6.1 In the event that payments made to New Brunswick exceed the amount to which New Brunswick is entitled under the Agreement, the amount of the excess is a debt due to Canada and shall be repaid to Canada upon receipt of notice to do so and within the period specified in the notice, which shall not be less than 30 days.

4.6.2 In the event that funds from fiscal year 2024 to 2025 are retained in fiscal year 2025 to 2026 as per paragraph 4.5.2, those funds must be spent in totality by the end of the fiscal year 2025 to 2026. Any unspent retained amount will be deducted from the first installment for fiscal year 2026 to 2027, as described in paragraph 4.3.2.a.

4.6.3 Canada shall, in addition to any other remedies available under applicable law, have the right to recover the debt by deducting or setting-off the amount of the debt from any future contribution payable to New Brunswick under this Agreement.

4.7 Displacement of provincial funds

4.7.1 New Brunswick commits to maintain or increase previously committed school food investments within their jurisdiction for school food programs and services as of the time of signature, during the duration of this Agreement, as per paragraph 2.2.1.

5.0 Accountability

5.1 Action Plan

5.1.1 New Brunswick has completed and shared its Action Plan for fiscal year 2024 to 2025, which Canada has approved, as set out in Annex 3 of this Agreement. Upon signature of this Agreement by both Parties, New Brunswick will publicly release their Action Plan in both official languages.

5.1.2 New Brunswick will engage with parents, school communities, experts, Indigenous peoples, Official Language Minority Communities' stakeholders and other interested Canadians throughout the implementation of its Action Plan.

5.1.3 New Brunswick will share with Canada the results of any engagement undertaken during the development of its Action Plans. New Brunswick recognizes that engaging with parents, children, school communities, experts, Indigenous peoples, Official Language Minority Communities' stakeholders and other interested residents of New Brunswick is necessary for developing each Action Plan.

5.1.4 By April 1, 2025, New Brunswick is expected to share its Action Plan for fiscal years 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027. This Action Plan will significantly expand on New Brunswick's Action Plan for fiscal year 2024 to 2025 by including greater detail, new and renewed commitments, and more extensive indicators and their corresponding targets, as agreed to by the Parties.

5.1.5 Baseline data required as set out in the Action Plan, attached as Annex 3 of this Agreement, that are not available for inclusion within New Brunswick's Action Plan for fiscal year 2024 to 2025 must be included within New Brunswick's Action Plan for fiscal years 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027.

5.1.6 New Brunswick may initiate amendments to its Action Plans to reflect shifts in approach necessitated by changing circumstances or priorities. Such changes must still advance the National School Food Policy and will require Canada's approval before they become effective. New Brunswick will release any such amendments publicly after approval by Canada.

5.2 Reporting

5.2.1 Within the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year, New Brunswick agrees to provide baseline data (i.e., from the most recent full school year) on indicators set out in their Action Plan, and at a minimum, the common indicators, within their Action Plan, as set out in Annex 3. If these data are not available in time for inclusion within the Action Plan for fiscal year 2024 to 2025, they must be reported within the more robust two-year Action Plan. Within six months of the signed Agreement or no later than April 30, 2025 (whichever comes first), New Brunswick agrees to submit an interim report on a pre-determined subset of common indicators within their Action Plan.

5.2.2 By no later than October 1 of each year, starting in 2025 and until 2027, New Brunswick agrees to share an Annual Report with Canada, outlining the investments and results of the previous fiscal year, in the format and manner decided jointly by Canada and New Brunswick and in keeping with the New Brunswick Action Plan. The report shall show separately the results attributable to the funding provided by Canada under this Agreement, to the extent possible, and shall include:

  1. a description of the activities, expenditures and results of the Agreement as set out in the New Brunswick Action Plan;
  2. baseline estimates for key indicators as set out in the New Brunswick Action Plan for the preceding full school year (i.e., for the first Annual Report, these data would be from the 2023/2024 school year), as available;
  3. annual results on common indicators (outlined in Annex 3) aligned to the National School Food Policy Objectives to demonstrate how federal investments are being used and its impacts, as set out in the New Brunswick Action Plan;
  4. annual results on additional indicators related to school food programming and its impacts, based on their unique priorities, needs and data capacity, as set out in the New Brunswick Action Plan;
  5. description of any relevant consultation processes, including with Indigenous and Official Language Minority Community stakeholders, as well as key findings and follow up activities resulting from those engagements;
  6. any additional results of evaluation activities undertaken in the fiscal year, as available;
  7. annual reporting on actions and indicators related to programming for Official Language Minority Communities, as set out in the New Brunswick Action Plan.

5.2.3. Canada, with prior notice to New Brunswick and the opportunity for New Brunswick to review and comment, may incorporate all or any part or parts of New Brunswick's Annual Report, as described in paragraph 5.2.2, into any public report that Canada may prepare for its own purposes, including program analysis and evaluation reports, and any reports to Parliament and/or public reports.

5.3 Audit

5.3.1 By no later than October 1 each year, starting in 2025 and until 2027, New Brunswick agrees to provide to Canada an audited financial statement of payments and expenses received from Canada under this Agreement during the preceding fiscal year.

  1. The revenue paragraph of the statement shall show the amount received from Canada under this Agreement during the fiscal year.
  2. The total amount of funding used for school food programs and services under paragraph 2.2.
  3. The administration costs incurred by New Brunswick in developing and administering school food programs under paragraph 2.2.2.
  4. The amount of any funding carried forward by New Brunswick under paragraph 4.5, if applicable.
  5. If applicable, the amount of any overpayment that are to be repaid to Canada under paragraph 4.6.1.

5.3.2 The financial statement shall be prepared in accordance with Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and the audit shall be performed by the New Brunswick Auditor General or his/her delegate, or by an independent public accounting firm registered under the laws of New Brunswick and in accordance with Canadian Generally Accepted Auditing Standards.

5.4 Evaluation

5.4.1 New Brunswick is responsible for evaluating its school food programs. New Brunswick may evaluate programs and services receiving funds provided under this Agreement, including those detailed in paragraph 6.0, and shall share the findings and data with Canada at its request. Canada may make public the results of any such evaluations.

5.4.2 Evaluations funded through this Agreement may be conducted in consultation with third-party entities.

5.4.3 Canada and New Brunswick may collaborate to establish evaluation and monitoring mechanisms to oversee the measures provided for in this Agreement concerning Official Language Minority Communities.

6.0 Long-term Collaboration

6.1 Canada and New Brunswick agree to collaborate through working groups or other governance bodies on school food programming, monitoring and evaluation, sharing supplementary or interim data as available (i.e., as an adjunct to mandatory reporting requirements detailed in Action Plans), knowledge, research and information on effective and innovative practices, to further support the delivery, including the development and expansion, of school food programming.

6.2 Canada and New Brunswick agree to work together, and with stakeholders towards the development of common quality and outcome measures that could be included in future agreements to reinforce the National School Food Policy's Vision.

6.3 Canada and New Brunswick agree to work together to improve data collection and dissemination on key school food indicators to support future programming.

6.4 New Brunswick agrees to work with Canada or its intermediaries to develop an overview of school food programming within their jurisdiction (i.e., a Provincial/Territorial School Food Profile) within six months of signing the Agreement. This overview document could include preliminary data on the reach of and benefits conferred by school food programming within their jurisdiction within this time period, following Canada's investment in New Brunswick's school food programming. The overview would also include information such as current school food data collection methodologies and dissemination efforts, best practices and notable program features or achievements.

6.5 New Brunswick may and will be encouraged to present their overview to other provinces and territories (i.e., via Federal-Provincial/Territorial working groups or governance table) to facilitate information sharing.

6.6 With prior written notice to New Brunswick, Canada may also identify elements of the overview for its own use in public communications. Such communications will follow the communications protocols outlined below.

7.0 Indigenous Collaboration

7.1 New Brunswick will ensure that programming considers the specific needs of Indigenous children attending New Brunswick-operated schools and aligns with existing or newly established distinctions-based school food policies and priorities.

7.2 New Brunswick agrees to engage with Indigenous partners on school food programming.

8.0 Communications Protocol

8.1 This Communications Protocol outlines the roles and responsibilities of each of the Parties to this Agreement, with respect to communication activities related to this Agreement and investments funded through it.

8.2 Each of the Parties may request joint public communications, defined as events, announcements, news releases, social media, web pages, reports and signage related to the funding provided through this Agreement. Any joint public communications must be in both official languages in equal quality and simultaneously available to the public, as per Part IV of the Official Languages Act. The initial announcement, announcing the signing of this Agreement must be a joint public communication.

8.3 Canada and New Brunswick agree on the importance of communicating with the public about the objectives of this Agreement in an open, transparent, effective and proactive manner through appropriate public information activities.

8.4 New Brunswick will ensure Canada receives recognition and the appropriate credit and visibility in public communications, defined as events, news releases, websites, reports and signage, including on print and digital materials, about investments financed through this Agreement.

8.5 Canada and New Brunswick agree to give each other ten (10) business days advance notice, that includes a summary, of intended public communications. This is defined as events, news releases, reports and signage related to this Agreement and results of the investments of this Agreement. Public communications will take place at a mutually agreed date and location.

8.6 Canada and New Brunswick each reserve the right to conduct public communications defined as events, news releases, reports and signage about this Agreement.

8.7 New Brunswick must cease acknowledging Canada, including all uses of official government symbols, in relation to the Agreement upon the expiration of this Agreement or the completion of project activities, unless otherwise specified by Canada.

8.8 New Brunswick is primarily responsible for communicating the requirements and responsibilities outlined in this Communications Protocol to Parties funded under this Agreement, such as other school food funding distributors (e.g., non-governmental organizations, etc.).

8.9 New Brunswick or other school food funding distributors must provide Canada ten (10) business days in advance of a release, copies of all public communications (including but not limited to websites, publications, press releases, presentations, reports and project signage), announcements, events, outreach, marketing and advertising products related to the Agreement or, upon request by Canada. Canada reserves the right to submit a ministerial quote for inclusion in any press release issued by New Brunswick or the ultimate recipient related to investments or results of this Agreement.

8.10 Canada and New Brunswick agree on the importance of child health and nutrition and will ensure that public announcements referencing investments financed through funds granted under this Agreement exclude mention of corporations that solely produce branded highly processed food (as defined in Canada's Food Guide).

9.0 Dispute Resolution

9.1 Canada and New Brunswick are committed to working together and avoiding disputes through government-to-government information exchange, advance notice, early consultation, and discussion, clarification, and resolution of issues, as they arise.

9.2 If at any time either Canada or New Brunswick is of the opinion that the other Party has failed to comply with any of its obligations or undertakings under this Agreement or is in breach of any term or condition of the Agreement, Canada or New Brunswick as the case may be, may notify the other Party in writing, consistent with paragraph 11.0 and paragraph 12.0, of the failure or breach. Upon such notice, Canada and New Brunswick will endeavour to resolve the issue in dispute bilaterally through their Designated Officials.

9.3 If a dispute cannot be resolved by Designated Officials, then the dispute will be referred to the Deputy Ministers most responsible for school food in Canada and New Brunswick, and if it cannot be resolved by them, then the respective Ministers of Canada and New Brunswick most responsible for school food shall endeavour to resolve the dispute.

9.4 If either Party has failed to comply with its obligations or undertakings and where the New Brunswick Ministers and federal Minister are unable to resolve related disputes, a termination of the Agreement may be pursued in accordance with paragraph 11.0.

9.5 The Designated Officials, for the purposes of paragraph 9.0, for Canada and New Brunswick are the Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Employment and Social Development Canada and the Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Strategic Planning and Project Management Office, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, respectively.

10.0 Amendments to the Agreement

10.1 This Agreement, including all attached annexes, except Annex 1, may be amended by mutual consent of the Parties at any time during the 3 years as set out in paragraph 3.1. To be valid, any amendments shall be in writing and signed by the Parties.

10.2 Waiver

10.2.1 Failure by any Party to exercise any of its rights, powers, or remedies under this Agreement or its delay to do so does not constitute a waiver of those rights, powers, or remedies. Any waiver by either Party of any of its rights, powers, or remedies under this Agreement must be in writing; and, such a waiver does not constitute a continuing waiver unless it is so explicitly stated.

11.0 Termination

11.1 Either Party may terminate this Agreement at any time if the terms of this Agreement are breached by the other Party by giving at least 6 months written notice of intention to terminate the Agreement.

11.2 As of the effective date of termination of this Agreement under paragraph 11.1, Canada shall have no obligation to make any further payments to New Brunswick after the date of effective termination.

11.3 As of the effective date of termination of this Agreement under paragraph 11.1 or on expiry of the Agreement in accordance with paragraph 3.1, New Brunswick shall have no obligations under this Agreement other than those outlined in paragraphs 4.5, 4.6, 5.2.2, and 5.3.1.

12.0 Notice

12.1 Any notice, information or document provided under this Agreement will be effectively delivered or sent by letter, postage or other charges prepaid. Any notice that is delivered will have been received in delivery; and, except in periods of postal disruption, any notice mailed will be deemed to have been received eight (8) calendar days after being mailed.

12.2 The address for notice or communication to Canada shall be:

Social Policy Directorate
140 Promenade du Portage
Gatineau QC K1A 0J9
EDSC.ALIMENTATION_SCOLAIRE-SCHOOL_FOOD.ESDC@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

12.3 The address for notice or communication to New Brunswick shall be:

250 King Street
Place 2000
Fredericton, NB
E3B 9M9
edcommunication@gnb.ca

12.4 If any portion of this Agreement is found by any Court, Arbitrator, Mediator or other authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that portion of the Agreement, to the extent necessary, shall be deemed not to form part of the Agreement and the validity and enforceability of the remainder of the Agreement shall not be affected.

13.0 General

13.1 This Agreement, including Annexes 1, 2, and 3 comprise the entire Agreement entered into by the Parties.

13.2 This Agreement shall be interpreted according to the laws of Canada and New Brunswick.

13.3 No member of the House of Commons or of the Senate of Canada or of the Legislature of New Brunswick shall be admitted to any share or part of this Agreement, or to any benefit arising therefrom.

13.4 If for any reason a provision of this Agreement that is not a fundamental term is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be or to have become invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, it will be deemed to be severable and will be deleted from this Agreement, but all the other provisions of this Agreement will continue to be valid and enforceable.

13.5 This Agreement is drafted in English at the request of the Parties.

Signed on behalf of Canada by the Minister of Employment and Social Development ("Canada") and as represented by the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development at Ottawa this 10th day of December, 2024.

[Signed by] The Honourable Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

Signed on behalf of New Brunswick by the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development at Fredericton this 16th day of December, 2024.

[Signed by] The Honourable Claire Johnson, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Signed on behalf of New Brunswick by the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs at Fredericton this _____ day of December, 2024.

[Signed by] The Honourable Jean-Claude D'Amours, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Annex 1: National School Food Policy

For more details, please consult the National School Food Policy .

Annex 2: New Brunswick's Objectives for School Food

For more details, please consult Policy 127 and Policy 711 of the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Annex 3: National School Food Program - 2024-2025 Action Plan - New Brunswick

Section 1: Introduction / Overview

Since the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the province of New Brunswick via the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) has invested $2M annually for school food. To implement the program, EECD established a partnership agreement with Food Depot Alimentaire (FDA). FDA delivers food to foodbanks across New Brunswick, collects over $10M worth of product annually, and supports 22,000 visits to food banks each month in New Brunswick. They also support local farms through a local food buying strategy. For 2024-2025, EECD has renewed this agreement with the same $2M budget base. The guidelines FDA must follow as part of their contract with the Government of New Brunswick can be found in Appendix A.

Before the 2023-2024 $2M funding, schools would typically depend on local groups and organizations to help fund and manage a school food program. These provincial investments have been important to fund breakfast programs in schools that did not have community-led programs.

With the current program, 135 schools are served through the FDA agreement out of the 295 schools in the province. FDA operates in both French and English language schools. The remaining 160 schools have various types of programs (small and large, universal and on-need) completely dependent on donations, volunteers, and local partners. As an example, Céd'ici in the Fredericton region serves all the Francophone schools. Once additional funding is received, EECD will meet with organizations such as this one to determine how best to work with them. Some of these partners are non-profit, while others are for-profit. A for-profit organization will typically be working in a school that already has a cafeteria, facilitating making food on-site.

FDA, taking advantage of economies of scale, collects needs from schools enrolled in the food program. FDA then distributes the food ordered via a province-wide network of transportation and distribution centers. From these centers, food is delivered to the schools on a bi-weekly basis. Schools, or sometimes community partners, are responsible for organizing the meals served to students.

In the majority of cases, for schools attached to the food program as well as for other schools, numerous partners support the schools in offering their various food programs for the greater benefit of the students. These partners may be local, regional, provincial or national in scope. Financial and organizational partners include individuals, non-profit organizations, social clubs, community foundations, private foundations, private companies, municipal organizations, Indigenous organizations, religious organizations, and other New Brunswick government departments. Current challenges, both those linked to FDA and others, are mainly in terms of accessibility for all schools, as well as the human resources required to operate the programs in the schools, and the sustainability of said programs. In addition, many schools have equipment needs, which poses other enormous challenges. Regardless of these challenges affecting both government and non-government funded programs, cost is one of the primary challenges, alongside the logistics of delivering food to remote areas. NB is a rural province, with some schools located in small remote municipalities, and with some on islands requiring the use of a ferry to access.

The main types of programs offered through FDA services are structured breakfasts and self-service breakfasts or snacks. Schools or school districts will typically advise FDA of their food needs for the week, and FDA will deliver what is needed, while ensuring it follows any rules stipulated in the agreement.

When it comes to the links between school food programs and student learning and development, NB fully supports the research. From the benefit on learning to the improvement of socio-economic factors, the food supports offered to students provide indirect financial support to families who face many challenges related to food security. However, few data are currently available on school food programs.

These programs offered by FDA are for free breakfasts, available to any student who may need one. There is no sign-up required, as this program is to be as non-stigmatizing as possible. EECD is aware that there may be other departments or government agencies in New Brunswick that may have some funding that can be used. Once a manager for this program at the Department-level has been selected, that person will be able to properly follow-up with those departments to determine how best to use those potential additional funds and work collaboratively to achieve our objectives.

Section 2: Implementation Plan

Complementing the provincial program, the federal National School Food Program will extend its reach to serve a greater number of students throughout the province.

As a first step, the aim is to extend FDA's mandate to cover all 295 schools in the province as soon as possible. FDA currently provides free breakfasts to any student requiring one, in 135 schools, and increased funding will allow FDA to expand in many more schools. Since FDA provides breakfasts for all students who need one, increased funding will not affect any schools currently covered by FDA. The positive effects will be seen in the increased number of schools served by FDA. Increasing the number of schools covered by FDA will also help standardize what is offered at those schools for breakfast and ensure that all students who need a breakfast receive a similar breakfast, reducing any potential inequities amongst schools who have different providers. For schools where this is not possible, or where existing community organizations are successfully providing a breakfast program, a budget per school will be established based on socio-economic factors such as the poverty index for food insecurity by Statistics Canada.

In parallel with these steps, EECD will work with school districts and other partners to put in place the necessary structures, including possibilities for technological approaches that will benefit the deployment of these new phases.

To enable this structural and organizational set-up, a new human resource will be added at the provincial-level to coordinate and consolidate links with the various partners. In addition, human resources will be added to the school districts to ensure that each district has access to a coordinator. Each coordinator will be responsible for supporting the coordination of organizations and individuals (staff or volunteers) within their assigned districts.

Equipment will also be needed to supply schools that do not have all the facilities required to implement the desired programs within the expected timeframe. Coordination of the items purchased will ensure that they are relevant to the program, such as food warmers, refrigerators, food preparation tools, and dry goods storage.

Within a framework of collaboration which began in recent years, new guidelines will be established with partners before the start of the 2025-2026 school year. New guidelines will better define the desired school food program by developing service standards, nutritional elements of the program including a greater variety of meals including vegetarian alternatives, highlighting local and regional success stories, promoting food safety and opportunities to implement food programs with greater student involvement. A review of departmental policies 711 - Healthier School Food Environment as well as 127 - Management of Food Services in Schools will need to be undertaken to ensure a good balance between the policy framework and the objectives of the food program.

As well, if there are any residual funds once the breakfast program has been implemented, the remaining funds will be earmarked for the creation of a "Pay-What-You-Can" lunch program.

The "Pay-What-You-Can" lunch program is a new program being proposed by EECD. As it will be a completely new program, the program has not yet been developed. However, the intent is to have a lunch program in as many schools as possible, where parents will be able to order school lunches for their children ahead of time. When the parent selects a lunch order, they will have the opportunity to pay the regular suggested price, or a lower price, including a complimentary lunch option. This will help guarantee that any student who needs a lunch is able to get one, regardless of their or their parents' ability to pay. To ensure that this program does not stigmatize any students, the complimentary lunch will be the same as all the other lunches. Parents will also have the ability to subsidize the program by paying more than the suggested price, with the extra monies going towards helping to keep the program costs as low as possible. Details may be shared as the program is further developed. All the other Atlantic Provinces have similar programs at different levels of implementation, and the intent is to gather best practices to inform this new program in New Brunswick.

Section 3: Indicators, Targets, and Expected Results

Year 2023-2024

Year 2024-2025

Metrics

To ensure that students are not stigmatized, schools do not, and cannot, calculate how many students participate daily in the program. In some schools, the food is available in a kiosk, with no real supervision of how and how many students participate. However, the breakfast program aims to ensure that all students who may need some food at breakfast time have access to it. As such, there are two proposed metrics:

  1. the number of schools that are covered under FDA currently versus how many schools will be covered by FDA once the additional funds are received. Since EECD will know which specific schools will be covered by FDA, EECD will be able to calculate how many additional students are covered for breakfast by using the total number of students in each school; and
  2. the number of breakfasts ordered. With current funding, FDA is able to ensure that 5,000 breakfasts are available daily, for 25,000 per week. With the additional funding, FDA should be able to determine how many additional breakfasts can be prepared with the additional food being delivered.
Table 1: Number of New Brunswick schools and students reached through provincial funding only, and through the addition of federal funding
Funding stream Number of schools Number of students
Provincial funds 135 51,711
Federal funds 160 57,158
Total 295 108,869

Additional KPIs will be monitored such as the availability rate of both school breakfast and lunch programs in schools. This will help us monitor the rate at which schools are adopting food programs and provide a timeline for when we can expect all schools to be properly served with breakfast and lunch programs. However, this metric is only expected to be available once the lunch program begins to roll out.

Section 4: Expenditures

Table 2: New Brunswick's estimated school food program expenditures for 2024-25
Description / Year Program Food: Food (FDA) and pilot project Pilot project (lunch) Staff: School and district support staff Infrastructure: Cafeteria and distribution equipment Administration: Position at EECD Other: School and partner agency budget Total Budget: Provincial, Federal + residual Balance
2024-25 Provincial $2,000,000 N/A N/A N/A $25,000 N/A $2,025,000 $2,000,000 -$25,000
Federal $671,111 $262,500 $161,000 $700,000 $32,583 $75,000 $1,902,194 $2,844,753 $942,559

Due to what will be a late start to using the funding in fiscal year 2024-25, it is anticipated that funding will need to be transferred to the next year. At this point, considering this will be a new program, the numbers provided above are only conservative estimates. Once the program is up and running, EECD and FDA will have a much clearer direction of how much funding will remain (if any), which will be reported on in the interim report and included in the annual report.

Section 5: Indigenous Collaboration

Current programs are available to all Indigenous students attending public schools in the province. Through the process that New Brunswick follows to sign any agreement, the Department of Indigenous Affairs is always contacted to provide comments and highlight any additional consultations that may need to occur. Additional collaborations will be offered to Indigenous communities based on agreements between them and the Government of Canada. Local organizations will be encouraged to communicate and collaborate with local communities on approaches, menu choices and native foods.

Section 6: Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs)

With current provincial funding, only 19 schools out of the 90 (or 21%) French-language OLMC schools are served by the FDA agreement. The new federal program will make this service available to all OLMC schools.

It should be noted that in New Brunswick, Francophone and Anglophone schools are assigned to respective districts, based on geographical location and language. The current program is already found within both linguistic school districts throughout New Brunswick. Additional funding will allow FDA to expand, with the intention of eventually reaching all schools, both Francophone and Anglophone. EECD will however strive to work with FDA to ensure that the expansion is similar for both linguistic sectors.

Section 7: Reporting

With the implementation of the new federal school food program, EECD is committed to collecting quantitative and factual data on these programs.

This data will include:

The metrics, and results, also as detailed in Section 3, will be shared with the Government of Canada. To ensure the non-stigmatizing delivery of food associated with this type of program, detailed data on specific student usage will not be possible. The difference between the impacts of the provincial and federal funding will have to be kept to how many new schools are participating, how many additional students are in those newly added schools, and how many additional breakfasts are funded.

Appendix A - Statement of work for Food Depot Alimentaire breakfast program

Schedule A

Statement of work

  1. Accept orders for food to support food programs in schools.
  2. Deliver orders to hubs on a bi-weekly basis.
  3. Provide schools with:
    1. access to the portal required to place orders;
    2. instructions on using the portal;
    3. a contact person/number for school officials to contact the service provider.
  4. Assume responsibility for and ensure timely delivery of food to Schools by hub partners.
  5. All food provided must adhere to Education and Early Childhood Development Policy 711.
  6. Food to be available for order by schools shall include:
    • apples
    • oranges
    • 1% milk (237ml)
    • yogurt (100g)
    • margarine (1lb tub)
    • eggs (1 dozen)
    • Cheese Strings
    • Nutri-Grain Bars
    • Cheerios cereal
    • jam
    • Motts Fruitsations apple sauce
    • whole wheat bread
    • whole wheat bagels

Appendix B - Schools currently served by FDA

Appendix C - Schools not yet included in the FDA contract

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2025-07-02