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February 18, 2022

Investing in early childhood educators creates a StrongerBC, Canada

Excerpt: "Federal early childhood workforce funding will be allocated through several ECE support streams and may be adjusted incrementally to better support programs in high demand, including: $25.5 million to continue providing ECE student bursaries for the next three to four years; $11.6 million to support the development and delivery of a recruitment and retention incentive program to encourage new ECEs who become certified through the ECE Registry to work in the sector, and to improve information and understanding about ECE retention; $7.5 million in professional development, inclusion support and deaf/hard-of-hearing training, and peer mentoring, including $3 million to be funded through West Coast Child Care Resource Centre for bursaries to assist child care professionals in accessing affordable professional learning; $2.3 million toward a work-integrated approach that gives ECE students the opportunity to become certified while maintaining employment as a child care professional; $1.15 million for the dual credit program so high school students can more quickly get their ECE certification (with the Province contributing an additional $575,000 in 2021-22); and $750,000 to translate francophone ECE credentials or those from other countries to help certify new British Columbians to work as ECEs."
February 10, 2022

Child care fee subsidies need fixing

The Atkinson Centre promotes research on child development, and the development of early learning policy and practice that serve young children and their families.
February 8, 2022

Speech from the Throne

Excerpt: "EXPANDING CHILD CARE: The pandemic shone a light on how important reliable and affordable child care is. It gives kids an early start on the path to learning and it helps parents return to work and pursue opportunities. For too long, investing in child care was not the priority it should have been. Many parents felt left behind by rising fees and long waiting lists. Your government has been working hard to change that. Families are already benefiting from thousands of new spaces and saving up to $19,000 a year in lower fees. Your government will build on the progress made by more than doubling $10-a-day spaces and reducing average fees by as much as 50% by the end of this year. Our province is closer than ever to having the first new social program in a generation. A future where child care is a core service – available to every family that wants it, when they need it, at a price they can afford. As part of that work, your government will move responsibility for child care into the Ministry of Education this year, which will manage child care programs through new regional offices. This new, regional approach will allow your government to better understand local needs as it continues to build more spaces for families. Over time, this will bring certainty and reliability to child care. The same way that parents feel knowing that they have a public school to send their kids to."
February 3, 2022

Canada and Manitoba Make Child Care More Affordable For Low and Middle-Income Families

Excerpt: "Manitoba is expanding eligibility to its Child Care Subsidy Program on Feb. 6, 2022, resulting in nearly half of regulated spaces being subsidized. This will reduce out-of-pocket parent fees for families with children in regulated child care by 30 per cent on average. This change ensures Manitoba is on track to achieve a key joint commitment in the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) agreement to reduce out-of-pocket parent fees by 50 per cent by Dec. 31, 2022."