Exciting News! --> Government of Canada Commits $1 Billion in School Food Funding for Provinces 

Check us out on YouTube: School Food Development Project

• Monthly menu plans from Maskwacis Education Commission's universal school meal program
• A 14-day menu plan incorporating recipes from Chef Jenni Lessard
• Chef Jenni's modern, indigenous-inspired recipes - Bison Calzones, Three Sisters Cookies, Whole Wheat Bannock, Fruit Leather
• A one month menu plan from Flourish! BC's program 

• Wild plant foraging information available from Northern Bushcraft
• Alberta Health Guidelines for serving wild game in community programs.
• In Alberta, wild game shared in schools must be carefully tracked - the hunter, food storage facility, and school must maintain food safety standards and complete a tracking form such as this one from Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council Education Authority. 

• School Food Funding Sources (this resource is designed for SK schools, but many of the grants/donors listed are open to applicants from across Canada)
• Wondering how food is integrated into your school? Use this checklist adapted by the School Food Development Project from the School Food Environment Assessment Tool developed by Black et al. 
• Food Mapping Activity - find out where food resources are in your community and develop food literacy among your participants. Adapted from a Food Matters Manitoba resource. 
• Teach Nutrition Saskatchewan - free to use nutrition and healthy eating habits resources, specifically designed for classrooms in Saskatchewan, developed by the Dairy Farmers of Canada's Registered Dieticians. Includes lesson plans, worksheets, digital activities, etc. for ECE and K-12. 
• SK Health Authority Nutrition Month Toolkit
• Health Schools BC - Teach Food First Toolkit
• Reading Nutrition Labels resource - from ISC Ontario
• The Alberta Food Security Working Group and Elder's Advisory Group made recommendations for increasing access to traditional foods in Indigenous community programs and facilities in their 2017 Food Sovereignty Declaration. 
• Reconciliation Saskatoon's BeAConnectR Indigenous Food Resources
• Ontario Dieticians in Public Health created this Nurturing Healthy Eaters handout which provides information on encouraging students to make healthy food choices.
• Training and retention of staff is a key component of sustainable school food programs. Maskwacis Education Commission has gratiously shared their Employee Handbook for Universal School Food Strategy Staff to act as a model for other schools/division and encourage the development of robust, sustainable policies and procedures.
• At Maskwacis Education high schools, students assist with school meal preparation and service and can earn Food Ventures 10, 20, 30 credits. Assessment Rubric 

Looking for nutritional guidance for Saskatchewan schools? Check out the Govt of SK's Nourishing Minds document or CHEP Good Food's Nutrition Positive Manual 

School Cooks Gathering

On Feb 1-2, 2024, the School Food Development Project and MLTC Education hosted a School Cooks Gathering at the Meadow Lake Civic Centre for all MLFN school cooks. The gathering offered opportunties for cooks to get to know one another and engage in some professional development. 

• School Cook Training Manual by Jordan Sokmenoglu - includes menu planning guide
• Knife Skills & Robotcoupe Sessions available on our YouTube Channel
• SK Polytechnic's Derek Cotton and Jordan Sokmenoglu shared tips on scaling up and developing your existing school food programming using the School Cooks Training Manual (above). See their presentation slides here.
• SFDP Lead Researcher Dr. Rachel Engler-Stringer gave a presentation on the current state of school food in Canada, shared details of the SFDP so far and talked community food soveriegnty. See her presentation slides here.
• Principal Glenda Crookedneck was unable to attend the gathering, but prepared a wonderful presentation exploring the school food program at Ministikwan Lake Cree Nation School. Check it out here or as a short video on our YouTube channel. 

Come to the Table: Exploring School Food Together

On October 27-28, 2022, the School Food Development Project hosted the Come to the Table gathering, bringing together our project partners to learn, share and be inspired by stories of successful school food programs. 

• Guest Speaker Presentations - Tanya Senk (with Joanna Simon), Scott Hall, Courtney Wheelton, Derek Cotton, Jenni Lessard, Rachel Engler-Stringer
• The Holistic Framework and Planning resource used at Come to the Table was shared with the SFDP by Meadow Lake Tribal Council. Copyright Ceclia Deschambault 2021. 
• Come to the Table Final Report - includes discussion summaries, event menu, presentation summaries and other suggested resources

Practicing Wellness in Community Re-Search - as part of the School Food Development Project, Indigenous Advisor Dene Cheecham-Uhrich from Clearwater River Dene Nation created this guide for researchers engaged in Indigenous-focused research projects or collaborating with Indigenous communties. The report was developed as an extension of our commitment to the First Nations' Principles of OCAP

Some great books:

• School Food, Equity and Social Justice: Critical Reflections and Perspectives by Dorte Ruge, Irene Torres, Darren Powell
• The School Food Revolution: Public Food and the Challenge of Sustainable Development by Kevin Morgan & Roberta Sonnino
• Food Sovereignty in Canada: Creating Just and Sustainable Food Systems edited by Annette Aurélie Desmarais, Nettie Wiebe and Hannah Wittman  (read an excerpt here) 

Relevant blogs, reports, news and journal articles: 

• Social Determinants of Health Inequities in Indigenous Canadians Through a Life Course Approach to Colonialism and the Residential School System by Paul J. Kim
• Oh, Canada! Our Kids Deserve Better - UNICEF report
• Are school meals a viable and sustainable tool to improve the healthiness and sustainability of children´s diet and food consumption? A cross-national comparative perspective by M. Oostindjer et al. 
• The Need for Culturally-Informed Approaches to Food Security by Tom Ndekezi
• Beyond Health and Nutrition: Reframing School Food Programs Through Integrated Food Pedegogies by Barbara Parker & Mario Koeppel
• Arrell Food Institute's School Food and Nutrition Report
• Why Food Sovereignty Matters - US Department of the Interior (an American resource, but still relevant to a Canadian context in many ways) 

 SFDP Newsletters & Updates (Mar 2022 - June 2023)