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Best Practices in ECE Development: In this series, early childhood officials from various provinces shared promising initiatives aimed at supporting the early childhood education workforce and expanding access to child care.

Space Expansion for Equity
Matthias Rust, Director, Strategic Policy and Intergovernmental Relations, Early Learning and Child Care Division, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning and Pam Wever, Director of Capital and Space Development.

An overview of Manitoba’s innovative approach to building childcare facilities in underserved communities.

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced an agreement with the Government of Ontario to increase school food programs in the province. This agreement, under the federal government’s National School Food Program, will deliver healthy meals to 160,000 more kids in Ontario this school year. With this agreement, a two-child family in the province will save $800 in grocery bills a year. This initial federal investment of $108.5 million over three years will help families and keep more money in their pockets. Along with increasing funding to school food programs in the province, this investment will also contribute to reduced costs for food transportation, storage, and preparation equipment. All in all, this will result in over 9.8 million more meals served to our kids. This includes 130,000 more school meals served to kids in Indigenous communities across Ontario this year."

e-News

Excerpt: "Since the implementation of universal child care in April 2021, and as of March 31, 2024, a total of 477 additional child care spaces have been created in Pelly Crossing, Whitehorse, Ross River, and Dawson. These programs continue to expand and grow, benefiting more children and their families. As of March 31, 2024, 1,896 children and their families were benefiting from universal child care, saving up to $8,400 a year per child enrolled in a licensed program. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the department provided $9,788,917 to licensed programs to support wages and benefits for early childhood educators. Additionally, Yukon families saved $14,153,927 in child care costs through the Government of Yukon’s universal child care and subsidy programs. During this period, 87 bursaries were awarded, including 85 part-time and two full-time bursaries. Of the full-time bursaries, one recipient was from a rural community and one from a Whitehorse French-language program. Twenty-three of the part-time bursaries went to recipients in rural Yukon."

Excerpt: "Today, the Government of Yukon launched the Yukon’s Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Infrastructure Fund, supported by a $7.7 million investment under the Canada-Yukon ELCC Infrastructure Fund Agreement signed in March 2024. This new initiative underscores the Government of Yukon's ongoing commitment to supporting children and families by investing in affordable, accessible and inclusive high-quality early learning and child care. The fund is designed to support current and prospective owners of not-for-profit early learning and child care centres in creating new spaces and improving the accessibility of existing programs. The funding program focuses on four priorities identified during engagement on modernizing the Child Care Act."

Excerpt: "Amendments to the Northwest Territories’ (NWT) Early Learning and Child Care Regulations came into effect November 14, 2024. The updated regulations introduce a wage grid and certification process for licensed centre-based staff. The wage grid establishes the minimum rate of hourly pay for employees based on the community they work in, the type of position they hold, years of experience, education, Indigenous knowledge, and Northern experience."

Excerpt: "The Action Plan outlines the steps Education will take between now and 2033 to implement Nunavut’s ELCC Quality Framework, which was released last year. Both of these key documents support high-quality early learning and child care, with a focus on inclusivity, cultural safety, and community collaboration."

Excerpt: "The workforce is the backbone of licensed child care: they ensure that centres can operate effectively. An enhanced workforce will mean that licensed child care centres are adequately staffed. The Department of Education’s collaboration with Nunavut Arctic College to expand early childhood educator certification will create a skilled workforce that can provide children with high-quality care. Inuit language skills are a workforce priority to promote Inuit language protection and promotion through culturally relevant and responsive care to children."

e-News

A comprehensive collection of Canada-wide legislated qualifications of child care centre supervisors, ECE qualified, and non-ECE qualified staff.