Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You have heard me speak many times about the price of food in our communities. The high price of food is one reason for kids sometimes going hungry in the morning. Families don’t always have the money to buy the food. I am sad to say this happens in our Territory, Mr. Speaker. Hungry children are hard-pressed to do well in school while their minds are on their stomachs. It is hard enough to deliver a good education to our children as it is without distracting them with hunger. Educators and parents say feeding students who show up for school hungry is a big help. It may even help attendance, which is another big problem. But in my community of Tuk, Mr. Speaker, this last week, there were 108 kids with perfect attendance for the last month.

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Educators and parents say feeding helps and yet the Department of Education cut the nutrition program for the year ahead without even proper evaluation of the program. Mr. Speaker, most likely saving the $400,000 the government spent on this program will end up costing much more in some other area. More importantly, this undermines the success of our children, Mr. Speaker.

The program was in the community, for example, for years. We haven’t been able to eat our traditional foods as much as we want. There is caribou and that and dry meat, as the Education Minister just said. It is hard. This program that was cut helped teach the children about healthy eating. That is important, especially in small communities with traditional diets that are changing.

Mr. Speaker, the school’s nutrition programs really helped. A little food shows our students that they are important. It shows that happiness and success is important too. It is very simple for the Education

Minister to restore this funding for these programs. He should do it. It is not a lot of money if we spread the cost to 33 communities, but this does make a big difference to our children. I thank the Members for supporting this motion and helping get the message across loud and clear to the Minister of Education. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.