Policy Monitor

Excerpt: Excerpt: "Forty-three locations across the province have been selected to offer pre-primary programming to four-year-olds this fall. “For the first time, Nova Scotia families will have access to a free pre-primary program for four-year-olds,” said Zach Churchill, Minister, Education and Early Childhood Development. “This investment will support the futures of our youngest Nova Scotians and save their families thousands of dollars in child care costs.”

Excerpt: "CHANCES in partnership with the Margaret and Wallace McCain Foundation embarked on a research effort to profile the impact of expanding access to a range of high quality integrated services for children and their families, with a particular focus on those who were identified as being vulnerable. The initial focus was the expansion and integration of early education and family support services, while further efforts focused on enhancing access, quality and accountability."

Excerpt: "Early learning and child care needs across the country are vast and diverse. Investments in early learning and child care benefit all children, particularly those who are vulnerable. In support of this Framework, the Government of Canada commits that the annual allocation until 2027 and 2028 will be no less than the allocation of 2017 and 2018. In keeping with the guiding principles of this Framework, provinces and territories will use investments allocated by the Government of Canada to further build early learning and child care systems by addressing local, regional and system priorities that have an impact on families more in need, such as lower-income families; Indigenous families; lone-parent families; families in underserved communities; those working non-standard hours; and/or families with children with varying abilities. The Government of Canada will work with provinces and territories over time to build long-term capacity in the early learning and child care sector."

Excerpt: "$4.4 million increase in Child Care due to higher than anticipated child care and pre-accredited programs being accredited with the corresponding higher funding rates for staff."

Excerpt: "Ontario is investing up to $1.6 billion in new capital funding to support the creation of 45,000 new licensed child care spaces in schools, other public spaces and communities over the next five years."

Excerpt: "Federal Budgets 2016 and 2017 proposed to invest $7.5 billion over 11 years, starting in 2017-2018, to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care across the country, particularly for families more in need. Of this investment: $95 million will go towards closing data gaps, to better understand what child care looks like in Canada and track progress; $100 million will go towards early learning and child care innovation; A portion of this investment will be dedicated to improving access to culturally appropriate early learning and child care programs for all Indigenous children."

Excerpt: "Pour favoriser le développement et la réussite éducative des toutpetits du Québec, une bonification de 40 M$ sera allouée aux services de garde éducatifs à l'enfance."

Excerpt: "Dans le but d'offrir un encadrement pédagogique à un plus grand nombre d'enfants dès le plus jeune âge et de bien les accompagner dans leurs premiers pas à l'école, jusqu'à 100 nouvelles classes de maternelle 4 ans à temps plein en milieu défavorisé pourront ouvrir dès la rentrée scolaire 2017."

Excerpt: "Pour assurer la santé et la sécurité des enfants en services de garde, le Gouvernement du Québec lance un appel de projets, pour l'année 2017­-2018, à l'intention des centres de la petite enfance (CPE), dans le cadre de la subvention pour les projets d'investissement en infrastructures (SPII)."

Excerpt: "Ontario has been working together with partners in child care and related sectors to build a high quality, seamless, and more accessible early years and child care system."

Excerpt: "The Department of ECE is also continuing work to increase the number of qualified ECD professionals in licensed programs and developing a dual-credit ECD program for senior secondary students. A focus on improving the quality of licensed early childhood education and care programs is evidenced by the Department of ECE’s efforts to implement the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale in licensed early childhood programs."

Recommendation Excerpt: "The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development develop and release by June 2019, a foundational document with an implementation plan for a junior kindergarten program that would be accessible to all four-year-old children in Newfoundland and Labrador, using the phased-in approach and other lessons learned from the models in Ontario and the Northwest Territories."