Northwest Territories
The NWT's single, clearly branded territorial program — covering breakfast, snack, and lunch — reaches all 49 schools and every student from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Official program
Healthy Food for Learning Program
Launched in 2015 as part of the NWT Anti-Poverty Strategy, Healthy Food for Learning is administered by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) and is now co-funded through the Canada–Northwest Territories National School Food Program agreement (2024-2027). There is no separately branded breakfast or lunch program — Healthy Food for Learning is the umbrella covering all of it, and individual schools are encouraged to partner with local grocers, businesses, and community members, including Elders for traditional food preparation.
How it works
All 49 NWT schools have access to programming "as needed," targeted at students facing food insecurity. There's no separate territorial application — parents are directed to connect with their child's teacher or school principal to learn what's available at their specific school.
The GNWT has invested $650,000/year since 2015. Federal funding adds roughly $7.4 million over 2024-2027, for a combined three-year total of about $9.35 million — covering infrastructure/equipment modernization, staff hiring, food-safety certification, and nutritional-quality upgrades across the territory's schools.
Benefits for kids
NWT Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland put it directly: "when students have food security, they can focus on learning, growing, and participating within their school communities." Because grocery prices in many NWT communities run well above southern Canada, school meal programs also serve an outsized equity function for remote and Indigenous communities.
Local facts
- PROOF estimated 16.4% of people in the NWT lived in a food-insecure household in 2025, though this territorial estimate carries a data-quality caution from PROOF itself. (Source: PROOF, University of Toronto (2025 data))