News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador today announced details of a new wage grid for early childhood educators working in regulated child care centres that are part of the Operating Grant Program. The wage grid takes effect on April 1, 2023 with a base rate of $25 an hour for Level II early childhood educators who hold a two-year diploma. This is the starting rate for a new graduate. Early childhood educators who continue to further their education and are awarded a higher certification level will be placed at Step One of their new level. Each step on the grid lasts 12 months, and are effective as of January 1, 2023."

Excerpt: "The Department of Education is holding public consultation sessions throughout the province to seek input and recommendations on the development of an Early Learning Action Plan, including a legislative review of the Child Care Act and regulations. The province has been strengthening its efforts to create an affordable, accessible, and quality early learning system in Newfoundland and Labrador. Additional information can be found in backgrounder below. Public consultations on the Early Learning Action Plan offers an opportunity for those in the early learning and child care sector, stakeholders and the public, to provide input and feedback on programs and legislation, and how they can be improved to meet the needs of children and families in Newfoundland and Labrador."

Excerpt: "For Métis Nation children and families, access to high-quality early learning and child care that is culturally appropriate is crucial. Today, Chandra Arya, Member of Parliament for Nepean, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, along with the President of the Métis National Council (MNC), Clément Chartier, and Métis Nation Minister of Social Development, David Chartrand, announced the signing of the first ever Métis Nation Early Learning and Child Care Accord."

Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is providing a total of $281,572 in grant funding to support 34 innovative projects to make facility improvements, enhance health and safety and support access and inclusivity at child-care facilities through the Child Care Sustainability Trust, Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced today. “Our government understands that as parents work, seek employment and attend educational programs, that access to quality child care that meets the needs of families is more important than ever,” said Ewasko. “These grants build on other recent investments to support increased access to child-care services across the province, and will support a wide range of facility needs to ensure quality child-care services are available to Manitoba families.”"

Excerpt: "The government is also investing $59.3 million in 2023-24 to create thousands more licensed child-care spaces as part of opening a total of 68,700 new spaces by the end of March 2023, increasing access and choice so parents can go to school, work and participate in the economy. Affordability grants to child-care operators and subsidies for parents will further lower the cost of child care, with the Alberta federal-provincial child-care agreement already reducing fees by an average of 50 per cent in 2022 for young children."

Excerpt: "The University of British Columbia is receiving a total of $239,765 in federal funding over 24 months, effective January 2023, for their project titled Professional Development for ELCC Workers Through an Indigenous-ECE Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This project focuses on providing early childhood educators with professional development opportunities to receive training on incorporating Indigenous perspectives, worldviews and pedagogies into early learning and child care environments through the development of an online course. The goal is that by widely offering this free online training across Canada, more ECEs will have these critical skills. This means that more Indigenous families and children will have access to affordable, culturally appropriate early learning and child care."

Excerpt: "The Department of Education is piloting a project to test the feasibility of implementing a full-day kindergarten program in Nunavut. Nanook School (Apex), Victor Sammurtok School (Chesterfield Inlet), Qaqqalik School (Kimmirut), Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik (Kugluktuk), and Inuglak School (Whale Cove) will be running a full-day kindergarten pilot starting this fall. These schools were chosen for the pilot based on the amount of capital renovations each would need to support the program and to represent each region."

Excerpt: "There continues to be many systemic issues within the Child and Family Services system that contribute to the inequities of services delivered to families and the overrepresentation of Indigenous children and youth in care. The larger goal of system reform has been long identified, and amendments to the Child and Family Services Act are part of this work. In April 2022, Northwest Territories (NWT) residents were invited to provide comments on the “Child and Family Services Act: Proposed Amendments Discussion Paper”. The Discussion Paper sets out amendments under consideration by the Department of Health and Social Services (Department). The Department identified eight key elements to serve as an outline for the proposed changes and help respondents navigate the proposed amendments."

Excerpt: "The Government of Yukon is committed to making life more affordable for parents and families, now and in the long term. To help address inflation and the costs associated with raising children, the rate of the Yukon Child Benefit will increase by 6.8 per cent on July 1, 2023. Future annual increases will match the Whitehorse Consumer Price Index to ensure that the benefit keeps pace with the rising cost of living. In 2023–24, the maximum amount will increase to $876 per child for the year, with most benefit recipients receiving $56 more than last year. Approximately 1,200 Yukon families receive the Yukon Child Benefit."

Excerpt: "This year, the PEP will provide $5 million toward 25 new school playgrounds across 25 school districts. The Province has increased the amount of funding that school districts will receive per playground to $195,000. Playgrounds are expected to be designed, built and installed over the next year. The program significantly reduces parent-led fundraising that was previously needed to help build playgrounds. Playgrounds promote physical activity, while encouraging students to share and develop conflict-resolution skills. They also provide students with opportunities to learn new things, reduce anxiety, improve focus, increase attention span, and enhance gross-motor, social, emotional and sensory development."

Excerpt: "The Government of Saskatchewan has partnered with 10 post-secondary institutions across the province to increase access to training and professional development opportunities for early childhood educators. Through the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement 2021-2026, Saskatchewan is committing over $12 million for the 2023-24 academic year to support existing and prospective early childhood educators to achieve higher levels of training and access to professional development opportunities. Attracting, retaining and growing a strong workforce of early childhood educators is just one of the initiatives by the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan through the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Other initiatives that have been implemented include $10 a day child care and wage enhancements of up to $5 an hour for early childhood educator wages."

Excerpt: "The Ontario government is expanding licensed child care spaces in the City of Ottawa by investing more than $178 million in 2023 to support the implementation of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system. This support delivers a significant reduction of child care fees for Ottawa families by 50 per cent on average and is helping to save families an annual average of $6,000 to $10,000 per child. An additional 2,900 licensed child care spaces will be created in Ottawa by 2026. These new spaces for children aged zero to five will represent a 9.4 per cent increase of child care spaces available in the community – increasing access to more families across the region."