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Anisha Jahagirdar - April 2024 student spotlight
April 3, 2024

Anisha Jahagirdar

Master of Arts (MA) in Clinical and Counselling Psychology
Expected year of graduation: 2024 (MA), 2029 (PhD)
April 2, 2024

Families no longer charged fees for child care waitlists

Excerpt: "“Child care is expensive enough without fees adding up before families have secured child care,” said Mitzi Dean, Minister of State for Child Care. “Eliminating waitlist fees will mean that families no longer face having to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars simply to find a child care space. We’re supporting families with the cost of child care, and now that starts when families are looking for a spot.” Approximately 5% of providers, mostly in metropolitan areas, were charging families a fee to put their name on a waitlist. Because most families looking for child care reach out to a number of providers, this was a significant cost. Waitlist fees, most of which are non-refundable, ranged from $25 to $200 or more."
April 2, 2024

Budget 2024

Excerpt: "Budget 2024 supports working families by recognizing affordable and accessible child care as the backbone of a strong economy where everyone can participate. That’s why we are investing $15.9-million in new child-care spaces, as well increasing access to $10/day child care, and increasing funding support for child-care centres to increase salaries for early childhood educators."
April 1, 2024

A National School Food Program to set kids up for success

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced a new National School Food Program. With an investment of $1 billion over five years, the Program, included in Budget 2024, will launch with a target of providing meals to 400,000 more kids every year, beyond those served by existing school food programs. For moms and dads, it will mean the peace of mind that your kids are taken care of and do not go hungry. For kids, it will mean healthy meals – helping them learn, grow, and reach their full potential. This is a generational investment in the future of our kids, and we’re going to work with provinces and territories and Indigenous partners to ensure every child has the food they need. The Program will be a safety net for the kids who need this support the most. The lack of access to food disproportionately impacts children from lower-income families and from racialized and Indigenous communities. With this program, we’re getting healthy food on the plates of growing kids."
April 1, 2024

Canada’s Children Need a Professional Early Childhood Education Workforce

In 2021, the Government of Canada committed to providing sustained funding to provinces and territories to expand access to more affordable child care. The ultimate goal is to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care plan to drive economic growth, support women’s workforce participation, and give every Canadian child a head start. Achieving these objectives requires a qualified early childhood education workforce. The early childhood education workforce is large, with 300,000 plus members representing more than1% of the working population. Workforce members can be found in many sectors, including licensed child care, health, education, family support, and settlement services. Every Canadian jurisdiction has legislation governing the provision of regulated, or licensed,1 child care services. This report focuses on those working in child care centres or group care. It provides a status report on today’s child care workforce and the challenges it faces, along with promising practices. It concludes with a series of recommendations. The intent is to draw attention to the centrality of educators in creating Canada’s newest social program and the policies and resources they require to make it a success.
March 28, 2024

More $10-a-day child care spaces

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced measures from the upcoming Budget 2024 to build more affordable child care spaces – saving more families thousands of dollars and helping more parents return to their careers. These measures include: Launching a new Child Care Expansion Loan Program. With $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants, public and not-for-profit child care providers will be able to build new spaces and renovate their existing child care centres. This means more resources for child care providers and more affordable child care options for families; Offering student loan forgiveness for rural and remote early childhood educators. This will encourage educators to work in smaller communities and help families get the child care they need. With a $48 million investment over four years, student loan forgiveness will increase the longer an educator works in a rural or remote area, attracting and retaining the talent, similar to the programs we’re offering rural doctors and nurses; Increasing training for early childhood educators. We’re investing $10 million over two years to train more early childhood educators, building up the talent needed for the expansion of affordable, high-quality child care."