Mariia Kozlova
Topic
Imagined Futures: Discourse and Policy in Canada’s National School Food Program
Department of Sociology
Date & location
- Thursday, August 21, 2025
- 1:30 P.M.
- Cornett Building, Room A317
Examining Committee
Supervisory Committee
- Dr. Anelyse Weiler, Department of Sociology, ßÉßɱ¬ÁÏ (Supervisor)
- Dr. Peyman Vahabzadeh, Department of Sociology, UVic (Member)
External Examiner
- Dr. Sophia Carodenuto, Department of Geography, UVic
Chair of Oral Examination
- Dr. Amy Verdun, Department of Political Science, UVic
Abstract
School food programs are internationally recognized as means for promoting child health and improving educational outcomes. After the 2024 Federal Budget commitment to the implementation of a national school food program, Canada became the last G7 country to establish one. Yet, the current programming consists of a patchwork of different initiatives. The benefits of school food and the role of policy in shaping outcomes have been thoroughly examined. However, we know far less about the history of school food programs and how competing visions of school food have shaped the actual design and implementation of a national school food program. The main research question I focus on is: How have the values, risks, benefits, and goals of Canada's National School Food Program evolved over time, between civil society advocacy starting in the 2000s and the 2025 funding agreement between the federal government and all the provinces and territories? Additionally, I review the role of non-governmental organizations in shaping the policy and focus on the current state of school food programming in British Columbia and Alberta. To investigate this question, I conducted a discourse analysis and thematic coding of documents, including bills, parliamentary discussions, advocacy reports, and regional implementation cases. Drawing on frameworks from Science and Technology Studies (STS), I treated policy not as a fixed blueprint but as a product of competing realities, political negotiations, and material infrastructures. The findings reveal that while civil society actors and some provinces envision school food as a universal right and form of public infrastructure, federal policy remains grounded in a narrower and more modest vision that prioritizes alleviating child food insecurity through low-cost interventions. The trajectory of the development of school food programs reflects not one consistent agenda, but a negotiated policy shaped by diverse actor-networks and embedded institutional logics. This gap between the ideal and the real-life implementation illustrates the value of viewing policy as a dynamic, multi-actor process rather than a linear progressive implementation.