Two Toronto-area high school students whose viral video pushed them into the heart of Ontario's school cafeteria junk food debate will attend Queen's Park on Thursday and meet with the education minister.
Samuel Battista and Brian Baah said they will be introduced at the Ontario legislature and have been told Laurel Broten has expressed interest in meeting with the two St. Thomas Aquinas student council members to discuss access to junk food in high school cafeterias.
"We felt like we have always been told what we can do, what we can't do. Where we can go, where we can't go," Battista told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.
"We are not saying we don't want a healthy lifestyle. We are saying keep the healthy alternatives. But to say we can't have gum, Gatorade and cupcakes is going too far.
"I am 18. I can vote now, I can join the army and I can drive, but I can't choose what to eat."
Battista and Baah, both in Grade 12, released a YouTube video earlier this month expressing outrage at their school's strict cafeteria policies, mixing student interviews and a cafeteria tour with rants by famous personalities.
The cafeteria at the Brampton high school has cut pizza, coffee, chips and chocolate bars from their shelves. Students who want soda must buy diet and the only cupcakes available are whole grain.
Battista narrates the video, saying students are being patronized and stripped of their rights to make their own decisions. He says many students are avoiding the cafeteria and spending their money at nearby stores or restaurants in order to have what they want for lunch and snacks.
"Those revenues are being stripped away. And those revenues affect students directly. They are going to sports teams, jerseys, student council events," Battista said.
"If you really want vibrant schools, you are really just taking it away because the cafeterias are losing revenue, which means commissions go down, and schools lose revenue."
Battista added that cafeteria employees are also having their hours cut back and are no longer able to maintain a living.
The Healthy Food for Healthy Schools Act prohibits Ontario's school cafeterias and vending machines from selling foods laden with calories, fats and sugar. Only nutritious meals and snacks are allowed.
Toronto cafeterias that are struggling to turn a profit also face closure as the district school board searches for ways to cut down on spending.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has said that cafeterias need to get "more creative" at selling health food to students in order to stay in business.
Baah says that part of their campaign is to address the failure to teach students about the benefits of healthy eating. He said the education system needs to do a better job explaining to students why the cafeteria menus are changing.
"Students are not being educated on the benefits of the healthy alternatives. [The alternatives] are just being stripped away and now students are going to off-campus sites," Baah said.
Follow Matthew Coutts on Twitter at @mrcoutts
