News & Stories: Northwest Territories

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and the Premier of the Northwest Territories, Caroline Cochrane, today announced an agreement that will support an average of $10 a day child care in the territory, significantly reducing the price of child care for families. Through today’s agreement and previous agreements, the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories will work together to improve access to quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services. This includes creating 300 new licensed early learning and child care spaces by the end of March 2026. All of these spaces will be provided exclusively by not-for-profit providers, including community and non-profit organizations as well as family day home providers. With federal funding of over $51 million over the next five years, the Northwest Territories will also see a 50 per cent reduction in average parent fees for children under the age of six in licensed child care by the end of 2022."

Excerpt: "We propose to spend $211 million directly on education-related programs in next year’s budget including $7.3 million in new funds. We cannot educate our children for their futures without teachers. This budget includes $4.7 million for increased teachers’ salary and benefits. We are also allocating funding for training for teachers to teach multi-grade classes and for enhanced supports for principals in small schools. Furthermore, we have committed $1.8 million for inclusive schooling and education for children with complex needs and for modernizing the K to 12 Curriculum."

Excerpt: "In considering affordability, it is important to consider overall operating costs which are higher in the North and the increased cost of living for early childhood educators who are typically paid low wages. Any increases to wages, to address recruitment and retention, will need to be considered in offsetting operating costs for licensed early learning and child care programs."

Excerpt: "The department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) invited Indigenous governments, licensed early learning and child care program operators, early childhood educators, and the public to provide their feedback on the proposed amendments. These amendments seek to establish an NWT certification process and wage grid, increase inclusion and reporting measures, establish cost control measures, protect the rights of families, and update language used in the Act. The What We Heard Report includes a summary of feedback from engagement that took place in June 2022."

Excerpt: "The Annual Report provides an opportunity for residents of the Northwest Territories (NWT) to see the type of support and services delivered through Child and Family Services (CFS) and understand why they are offered. The report identifies trends, including how the Child and Family Services system can improve and where there has been a positive impact on the people served."

Excerpt: "The GNWT will provide funding directly to operators, which will then flow the money to their employees. In the first year, licensed childcare centres will receive $12,750 for every fulltime position that is required under legislation, keeping in mind that some centres have more than the minimum number of required employees. In the second year, the amount increases to $16,250. Childcare centres will be able to decide how they distribute the funds to their employees, so actual pay increases will vary based on the particular centre. This two-year program will bridge a gap until we implement a wage grid in the 2024-2025 fiscal year."

Excerpt: "We have implemented the first steps toward more affordable licensed early learning and childcare programming in the territory, with the goal of reducing families’ childcare costs to an average of $10 a day by 2026. This initiative is supported through federal funding and with proposed funding of $10.3 million in 2023-24 we are aiming to increase access to high-quality, inclusive, affordable, early learning and childcare spaces. The new investment will make childcare fees more affordable for families while providing early childhood educators with increased professional learning and post-secondary opportunities."

Excerpt: "Effective April 1, families with children attending licensed early learning and child care programs will receive an increase in their Child Care Fee Reduction subsidy from the department of Education, Culture and Employment, which will reduce their total child care fees. Previously, through the Canada-wide Canada-NWT Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (Canada-wide ELCC Agreement) the GNWT was paying an average of 50 per cent of child care fees, which will now increase to an average of 60 per cent. Also, licensed programs will be able to increase their fees by two to six per cent, depending on the total fee rates being charged by that program for infant and preschool spaces, and by a flat rate of $10 per month for out-of-school."

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."