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Recommendation 1: Enhance existing income supports
Recommendation 2: Strengthen Investments in School Food
Recommendation 3: Resource and engage with the movement to create a basic income in Canada
Recommendation 4: Set targets for food insecurity reduction
Recommendation 5: Support and strengthen Indigenous food sovereignty
Recommendation 1: Enhance existing income supports
Food insecurity is primarily an issue of insufficient income. The Government of Canada has the power to significantly reduce food insecurity through strengthening income support programs and policies. We endorse the recommendations made by our colleagues at Right to Food and the Newfoundland and Labrador Anti-Poverty Coalition (of which we are a member) that the 2026 budget include:
Making permanent and strengthening the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit to provide adequate financial support to adults 18 to 64 with low and modest incomes. The recent implementation of the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit was an important but insufficient intervention to mitigate the ongoing cost of living crisis.
We would recommend enhancements to the benefit that bring it closer to the original proposed design. This would include making the benefit a monthly payment, making the benefit permanent and increasing the benefit amounts to at least $50/month per child and $150/month per adult
Strengthening the Canada Disability Benefit and streamlining the application process to lift all people with disabilities out of poverty and food insecurity. In Canada, one in eight people aged 15+ with disabilities lives below the poverty line—a rate 15% above the national average. The implementation of the Canada Disability Benefit was a very significant beginning for poverty reduction - but it was only a beginning. There are many ways this benefit could and should be enhanced.
We support calls by Disability Without Poverty and other partners to strengthen the CDB by increasing the amount to lift all disabled people out of poverty, expanding eligibility criteria, making the benefit easier to access by automatically enrolling people eligible for other disability benefits and simplifying the application process for the disability tax credit.
We note that in Newfoundland and Labrador the CDB has been matched by a NL Disability Benefit of $400/month; the federal government can and should look to Newfoundland and Labrador for evidence of the impact a larger benefit amount can make.
Furthermore, we endorse the NL Anti-Poverty Coalition’s recommendation that the 2026 Budget includes funding to accelerate the implementation of automatic tax filing. New benefit programs such as the Canada Disability Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit are administered through the tax system, just as any future basic income guarantee would be. With that in mind, in Budget 2026 we hope to see increased investment in the implementation of automatic tax filing for lower-income households.
Recommendation 2: Strengthen Investments in School Food
The creation of the National School Food Program was a transformative investment in Canada’s food systems and Food First NL was happy to see it made permanent. We endorse the recommendations made by the Coalition for Healthy School Food (of which we are a member), which are that Budget 2026 should:
Relaunch the School Food Infrastructure Fund, funded through the Build Communities Strong Fund, with a permanent annual investment of $20 million, scaling up to $50 million in future years. This will allow the Government to achieve its Budget 2025 commitment to expand Canada’s capital infrastructure investments while providing community organizations that support school food programs with the equipment and infrastructure necessary to offer students more whole, fresh foods.
Double the National School Food Program investment from $200 million to $400 million per year to help reach Canada’s vision that “all children and youth in Canada have access to nutritious food at school”. This investment will allow more students to benefit from quality meals in programs that align with the National School Food Policy while supporting families amid continued food affordability pressures. It will ensure the federal investment aligns with cost-of-living growth, match the over $400 million combined annual investment from provinces, territories, and municipalities, and move Canada closer to a cost-shared program that provides true equity of access.
Provide $20 million for the Buy Canadian in School Foods Program, as promised in the Liberal Party’s 2025 platform, to increase procurement and consumption of local foods in schools. This will support Canadian farmers and food producers while providing children and youth access to fresh, local food in programs. This will support the forthcoming National Food Security Strategy by growing the Canadian agri-food sector, building economic growth and resiliency in our food supply chains.
Recommendation 3: Resource and engage with the movement to create a basic income in Canada
The implementation of a basic income guarantee would be the single biggest intervention the Government of Canada could undertake to reduce food insecurity while unlocking the tremendous economic potential of lower-income Canadians. In Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada there is strong public and all-party support for a basic income and we hope to see some early steps taken in the 2026 budget. These steps should include:
Working with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to develop a basic income pilot for Newfoundland and Labrador. We endorse this recommendation from the NL Anti-Poverty Coalition. The recently-tabled report from our province’s All-Party Committee on Basic Income recommends that the provincial government work with the federal government to develop a basic income pilot for Newfoundland and Labrador. This will only be possible if the federal government also comes to the table. We recommend that Budget 2026 include a small allocation to resource a joint planning committee that could fully develop a basic income pilot program design.
Moving forward on a Demonstration Project on Prince Edward Island. As members of Coalition Canada Basic Income, we are strong supporters of the early leadership PEI has taken in the movement toward a basic income. In PEI there is an all-party consensus and a detailed Proposal for a Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit in Prince Edward Island has been developed.
The Government of Canada has a critical role to play in enabling this work and in bringing the conversation to a national level. With that in mind, we recommend that the 2026 budget renews and Expands Federal Commitments to the PEI Working Group. The Working Group has already enabled productive cooperation between Statistics Canada, the CRA, and PEI’s Department of Social Development. Renewed federal leadership is essential to advance this collaboration into implementation. The implementation of this project would also provide an incredibly valuable source of data for other provinces (like our own) that are moving towards basic income models.
Recommendation 4: Set targets for food insecurity reduction
Targets to measure against are a critical element of progress and a necessary step towards building an effective, fiscally prudent strategy to support food insecure Canadians. Food First NL has repeatedly joined partners from across the country in calling for a national target for food insecurity reduction. We once again join the call to set a target of reducing food insecurity by 50% and eliminating severe food insecurity by 2030, relative to 2021 levels. We renew this call and hope to see the implementation of such a target included in Budget 2026.
Recommendation 5: Support and strengthen Indigenous food sovereignty
Indigenous organizations and governments all over Canada are taking action to restore sovereignty over their food systems. This work can and should be supported by the Government of Canada, indeed Indigenous food sovereignty is very much in line with the “Indigenous-led processes for advancing self-determination” that were outlined in the Canada Strong Liberal Party Platform.
The Government of Canada can and should support this work. While the shape of this support must be decided in conversation with Indigenous communities themselves, we join calls for the Government of Canada to advance Indigenous food sovereignty by funding salaried land-based roles and providing multi-year, flexible core funding for Indigenous-led food systems.
Grounding for our Recommendations
The recommendations presented are grounded in insights gathered from many conversations, including:
A provincewide consultation process around food charity, which engaged more than 500 people with lived experience of food insecurity and a majority of food programs in NL
Discussions of the Food Security Working Group, which we co-chair with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Community-level and regional consultations hosted across NL through multiple projects
Our participation in national conversations through the Coalition for Healthy School Food, Coalition Canada Basic Income, the Good Food Organization Network, the Atlantic Food Action Coalition, and participation in numerous conferences and convenings
Academic and community-based research conducted by Food First NL, our partners, and our colleagues - especially our Lived and Living Experience Advisory Group, made up of people with a lived experience of food insecurity.