News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "A social initiative supporting vulnerable children and their families will get an additional $600,000 over the next two years. The funding will help Bee Me Kidz continue delivering programs and services for low-income families. These include social and emotional skills development, nutritional support and parental education designed to strengthen the resilience of children and their families, enhance their well-being and support children’s learning potential. With this additional investment, the Department of Social Development’s total contribution will reach $900,000."

Excerpt: "Effective June 1, licensed child-care facilities must post on-site notices of high-risk, potentially criminal incidents reported at their programs. These notices will go up within one business day (or as soon as reasonably possible) after incidents are reported, in areas visible to parents. A notice will also be posted on alberta.ca with the program name and the date on which the incident was reported. Families whose children are involved in such incidents will continue to be notified directly by their respective child-care programs."

Excerpt: "That is why this budget proposes to double the Nunavut Child Benefit, while also increasing it each year to help keep up with the rising cost of living. The budget also proposes a $4 million (or 2.9 times) increase in the Early Childhood Program Day Care contributions. This is direct support aimed at helping lower-income families manage rising costs. Because even modest assistance can make a real difference for families where every dollar matters."

Excerpt: "The Early Childhood Infrastructure Fund now has three distinct funding streams: the Major Projects Fund, the Minor Projects Fund, and the Developmental (Needs Assessment) Projects Fund. The new funding streams simplify the Early Childhood Infrastructure Fund application process and help create new licensed early learning and child care spaces. Funding priority will be given to communities with limited or non-existent early learning and child care programming."

Excerpt: "A new child-care centre in Halifax’s Bayers Lake Business Park will improve families’ access to care. The provincial and federal governments are providing almost $2 million to help the Silver Crescent Academy Society relocate and expand. The new centre will have up to 120 spaces, up from 71 at the current location in Rockingham."

Excerpt: "The Council of Yukon First Nations will receive $694,600 over two years (2025 to 2027), to renovate a commercial space in Whitehorse and create up to 14 Yukon First Nations-led, licensed early learning and child care spaces. The new child care program will offer a unique opportunity to expand the organization’s continuum of care for Yukon First Nations and Indigenous families. The Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon will receive $581,914 over two years (2025 to 2027), to renovate an existing space in Whitehorse and create up to 28 Francophone licensed early learning and child care spaces. This project supports an expansion of the Garderie du petit cheval blanc, a French first language child care program, to a second location in Takhini, in addition to its Copper Ridge location."

Excerpt: "Almost 90,000 students have joined Alberta’s classrooms in just four years as record population growth continues to put pressure on schools, teachers and classroom learning environments. Growing class sizes and increasingly complex classrooms are making it harder for teachers to give students the support and attention they need to succeed. To help address these pressures, Alberta’s government is acting now by providing $200 million to schools through the new Class Size Reduction Grant. The funding will support the hiring of more than 1,400 teachers in grades K-9 to help reduce class sizes and improve classroom learning conditions in increasingly complex classrooms."

Excerpt: "School districts will have access to a new provincial investment to create before- and after-school child care spaces as early as fall 2026. The Ministry of Infrastructure is providing $5 million in child care capital funding to support renovations and the repurposing of existing space in school buildings to create new child care spaces. This program is the first of its kind, building on the Province’s work to look at innovative ways of creating spaces more efficiently. Successful applicants will be eligible to access additional funding through the Ministry of Education and Child Care to support opening these spaces, including $20 million to support operating costs for new child care programs over the next three years."

Excerpt: "Families in the Beaver Bank area of Halifax Regional Municipality will see more early learning and child-care spaces opening in their community later this year. It Takes a Village Daycare Society is opening a third location at 925 Windgate Dr. The new centre is expected to create up to 194 new child-care spaces for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children."

Excerpt: "As Alberta’s government continues to act on class sizes and classroom complexity, teacher input will be essential. To ensure educators have a direct voice in shaping the education system, Alberta’s government has appointed 16 members to the Teacher Advisory Council. The council members, including teachers and teacher leaders, will have the opportunity to share their perspectives on emerging issues, topics, education policies and initiatives as they are being developed."

Excerpt: "The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is taking action to strengthen supports for Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 (JK-12) students following a comprehensive review of inclusive schooling. Inclusive schooling means ensuring each student can learn and succeed, with supports that reflect their individual needs. Between 2024 and 2026, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) reviewed how inclusive schooling is working across the NWT. The review confirmed what families and educators have been telling us: student needs are becoming more complex, while schools have increasingly relied on short-term federal funding that is not stable or predictable. The review made 11 recommendations to improve how supports are delivered. The GNWT has accepted all 11 and is moving forward with implementation."

Excerpt: "In our short six months since forming government, we have added over 200 child care spaces. Budget 2026 includes more than $33 million to support child care spaces, including the establishment of approximately 1,200 spaces which are now in progress and the creation of an additional 400 child care spaces. And I am proud to say that we are committed to continuing $10 a day child care. All children deserve the support they need to thrive right from the start. That’s why we’re investing more than $3.6 million to increase inclusion supports in child care services across the province. As soon as our children enter the classroom, we need to do more to ensure that they have the supports they need. As a retired educator myself, this is something I am passionate about. Teachers are vital to this work, as are student assistants. That is why Budget 2026 includes almost $625 million for educators and teaching and learning assistants. That’s a $28.9 million increase. This increased funding will support the addition of 94 teachers and 20 teaching and learning assistants to the system."