News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "The Canada Dental Benefit will provide eligible parents or guardians with up to $650 tax-free per year for two years to cover dental expenses for children under 12. This benefit, which will support an estimated 500,000 children, is available to families without access to private dental insurance and with an adjusted family net income under $90,000. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will begin receiving applications and processing payments for the benefit starting December 1, 2022."

Excerpt: "Now, more than ever, increased access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care is crucial to meet the needs of children and families across Canada. That is why the Government of Canada is making a historic investment of $30 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system in collaboration with provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners. In support of this commitment, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Karina Gould, announced today the members of a newly created National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care. The Council brings together a committed and diverse group of 16 members, including academics and advocates, practitioners and caregivers. The chairperson, Don Giesbrecht, has previously served as both President of the Board of Directors and CEO of the Canadian Child Care Federation."

Excerpt: "In addition to establishing a permanent, legislated commitment to federal funding for early learning and child care, Bill C-35, if passed, would require the federal government to report to the public on federal investments and progress being made on the Canada-wide system. It would also enshrine in law the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care. The role of this recently announced council is to provide third-party expert advice to the Government of Canada and serve as a forum for engagement on issues and challenges facing the early learning and child care sector."

The video comes with a transcript and closed captions.

Excerpt: "The federal government’s historic investment in a Canada-wide early leaning and child care system is making life more affordable for families, helping to give children across Canada the best start in life, and strengthening our workforce. Today, fewer women have to choose between their family and their career, and in February 2023, the labour force participation rate for women in their prime working years reached a record 85.7 per cent. By April 2, 2023, six provinces and territories will be providing regulated child care for an average of just $10-a-day or less—significantly ahead of schedule. All other provinces and territories remain on track to achieve $10-a-day child care by 2026. In Quebec, federal investments are continuing to make the existing child care system more accessible through the creation of new spaces."

Excerpt: "Today, the Minister of International Development, Harjit S. Sajjan, on behalf of the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Karina Gould, announced funding for Langara College for their project entitled Innovating Virtual Reality in Inclusive and Anti-biased Early Learning and Child Care Training, which is being funded through the Early Learning and Child Care Innovation Program. Through this program, Langara College is receiving a total of $2,671,771 in federal funding over a three-year period from February 2023 to January 2026."

Excerpt: "The Government of Canada is committed to improving the health and mental wellbeing of children and youth in Canada. Early childhood experiences influence a child’s mental health for life—and with 70% of mental health and substance use problems having origins in childhood, understanding how to better identify and treat young children at risk of developing or living with a mental health issue is crucial. Today, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, announced an investment of $6.5 million over five years for six projects funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Mental Health in the Early Years (MHITEY) initiative."

Excerpt: "Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, announced more than $2 million in funding to Voilà Community Help for two projects that use metaverse technology to support French-language teaching. Minister Petitpas Taylor was joined by Arielle Kayabaga, Member of Parliament (London West). Thanks to this innovative investment, the organization has created Artificial Intelligence for Official Languages, a project conducted in partnership with more than 35 school boards. The project aims to optimize Voilà Learning, an engaging interactive virtual platform that allows students to improve their language skills while having fun. Students on Voilà Learning’s virtual campus can interact with each other, do homework, write on a board, create videos, interact with facilitators, and get help from qualified teachers."

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the establishment of the Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund to help public and not-for-profit child care providers deliver affordable child care for families by funding the cost of physical infrastructure needed to create more spaces like real estate and building materials. This new Fund will provide an additional $625 million to provinces and territories to create spaces in communities that currently do not have enough of them. The Fund will support child care spaces for underserved communities, including in rural and remote regions, high-cost and low-income urban neighbourhoods, and communities that face barriers to access, such as racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, official language minority communities, newcomers, as well as parents, caregivers, and children with disabilities."

Excerpt: "Today in Ottawa, the Honourable Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board of Canada, on behalf of the Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, joined the Honourable Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s Minister of Education, to announce the creation of just over 2,900 new affordable child care spaces in Ottawa. As part of the Canada–Ontario Canada-wide ELCC Agreement, the Government of Canada is providing more than $10.2 billion toward early learning and child care in Ontario. Under this agreement, Ontario is on track to create 86,000 new spaces by the end of 2026, including up to 42,000 by the end of 2023. The agreement with Ontario is part of the larger Canada-wide plan to create 250,000 new child care spaces across the country. These new licensed spaces will be predominantly among not-for-profit, public and family-based child care providers."

Excerpt: "The proposed new measures include: The Family Tax Cut, a federal tax credit that will allow a higher-income spouse to transfer up to $50,000 of taxable income to a spouse in a lower tax bracket; Increasing the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) for children under age six; Expanding the UCCB to children aged six through 17; Increasing the Child Care Expense Deduction dollar limits by $1,000, effective for the 2015 tax year."

Excerpt: "On May 2, 2014, the Federal Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the findings of the Federal Court concerning an employer's obligation to provide workplace accommodation for an employee's childcare needs in Canada (Attorney General) v. Johnstone, a case that has garnered significant media attention. As the first decision from an appellate-level court on this issue in more than a decade, this ruling serves as the most authoritative statement to date on a difficult issue that has generated a lot of uncertainty for workplace participants."