Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Through the agreement, the Government of Canada is providing over $16 million in funding over four years to Prince Edward Island to improve access to high quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services. Under the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 Canada–Prince Edward Island Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, Prince Edward Island will allocate funding to increase access to affordable, inclusive and high-quality early learning and child care spaces, including for those with parents who work non-standard hours, for children of all abilities or needing individual or enhanced supports, and to invest in training to support early childhood educators."

Excerpt: "Through the agreement, the Government of Canada is providing over $272 million in funding over four years to British Columbia to improve access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services. In addition, the Government of Canada is making a one-time investment of $48.8 million in 2021–2022 to support British Columbia’s early childhood educator recruitment and retention efforts."

Excerpt: "Under the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 Canada–Yukon Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, Yukon will allocate funding to further build universal access to early learning and child care for all Yukon families, including increasing the current subsidy system and increasing training and certification opportunities for child care providers. The current Yukon Early Learning and Child Care Funding Program reduces parent fees by up to $700 per child per month for full-time participation in licenced child care programs, and provides a minimum wage of nearly $30 an hour to fully qualified educators.

This four-year agreement builds on the commitments made in the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework and ensures that funding continues to be available to support child care programs and services for Yukon families until March 2025."

Excerpt: "Under the 2021–22 to 2024–25 Canada–Northwest Territories Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, the Northwest Territories will invest in: improving access to post-secondary education programs and professional development for early childhood educators; distributing cultural education resources; ensuring health and safety in child care centres; offsetting the cost of equipment supporting quality play-based environments; and increasing the number of child care spaces. This four-year agreement builds on the commitments made in the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework and ensures that funding continues to be available to support licensed early learning and child care programs and services for families in the Northwest Territories until March 2025."

Excerpt: "Under the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 Canada–New Brunswick Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, New Brunswick will continue to collaborate with the childcare sector and maintain the New Brunswick Early Learning facility designation to ensure all families and children in the province have access to high-quality, affordable child care in the official language of their choice. The agreement focuses on strengthening the early childhood workforce, particularly around inclusive practices through training and mentorship, while addressing recruitment and retention challenges. Actions include implementing a marketing campaign to promote the profession and establishing a process for the recognition of early childhood education credentials obtained outside of Canada."

Excerpt: "The federal funding of more than $1.2 billion over the next five years will also fund critical services for Manitoba families and children and grow a strong and skilled workforce of early childhood educators, including through the creation of a wage grid to support the attraction and retentions of early childhood educators. This agreement will also lead to the creation of 1,700 extended hour child care spaces for families requiring child care in the evening and on weekends as well as guaranteed child care spaces for children whose parents are transitioning into regular employment. The agreement will also support an early learning and child care system that is fully inclusive of children with disabilities and children needing enhanced or individual supports, and ensure all families have equitable access to high-quality, affordable programming."

Excerpt: "The governments of Quebec and Canada recognize Quebec’s leadership in early learning and child care and together, they have announced an asymmetric agreement for the federal transfer of nearly $6 billion over five years. This includes a significant portion that will go toward strengthening the early learning and child care system in Quebec and improving working conditions for educators."

Auditor General Kim Adair-MacPherson released her July 2021 Report to the House of Assembly. The report examined the planning and implementation of the Pre-Primary Program introduced by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in 2017.

Excerpt: "The Canada Country Background Report provides descriptions of Canadian policies in place at all levels of government that support process quality in ECEC. Information presented in the report is representative of policy contexts and efforts as of early 2021. Initial data collection occurred through the 2019 OECD policy review questionnaire, with updates and content development occurring throughout 2020 and early 2021. Specific attention is given to the policy context for ECEC, along with descriptions of early learning curriculum frameworks, pedagogical practices, and policies, programs, and initiatives to support workforce development."

Excerpt: "The Manitoba Child Care Search (MCCS) is a user-friendly online tool that connects families with licensed child-care facilities to meet their immediate or future needs. The MCCS lists up-to-date information on licensed child-care centre vacancies, hours of operation and locations."

Excerpt: "The plan features targets to achieve several shared priorities between the Federal and Provincial Governments."

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and the Premier of Prince Edward Island, Dennis King, today announced an agreement that will support an average of $10 a day early learning and child care in the province in three years. PEI is on track to meet this target by the end of 2024, significantly reducing the price of child care for families. Through the agreement, the governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island will work together to improve access to quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services. This includes creating 452 new regulated early learning and child care spaces within two years to ensure all families of children under age six can access child care. The federal funding of nearly $121.3 million over the next five years also includes a one time investment of about $3.6 million in 2021-2022 to support the early childhood workforce."