News & Stories: Northwest Territories

Excerpt: "Amendments to the Northwest Territories’ (NWT) Early Learning and Child Care Regulations came into effect November 14, 2024. The updated regulations introduce a wage grid and certification process for licensed centre-based staff. The wage grid establishes the minimum rate of hourly pay for employees based on the community they work in, the type of position they hold, years of experience, education, Indigenous knowledge, and Northern experience."

Excerpt: "The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and the Northwest Territories Early Childhood Association (NWTECA) have agreed on terms of reference to guide their partnership to establish an early learning and child care system that provides quality programs and supports licensed family day homes and centre-based programs. The GNWT and the NWTECA hold regular meetings to discuss important matters affecting the sector. The goal of this agreement is to foster transparency between the GNWT, the NWTECA’s board, and its members to ensure that licensed program operators and early childhood educators fully understand changes to the sector and how they will be impacted."

Excerpt: "This annual report provides a snapshot of the state of the Northwest Territories (NWT) education system and provides crucial data to help the GNWT and education bodies address student needs and provide the supports and resources necessary for students to thrive. While there are some encouraging results identified in the 2022-2023 report, the GNWT recognizes that there is a lot of important work to do to improve student outcomes across the Northwest Territories. The GNWT is committed to collaborating with partners, including education bodies and Indigenous governments, to support students throughout their education."

Excerpt: "But more families need access to affordable child care. That’s why, today in Yellowknife, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, joined the Honourable Caitlin Cleveland, Northwest Territories’ Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, to announce $10.6 million over four years, with $7.8 million through 2025–2026, to help build more inclusive child care spaces across the Northwest Territories through the Government of Canada’s $625 million Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. This investment will help the Northwest Territories reach the shared goal of building 300 new child care spaces by 2026. Through this Fund, all provinces and territories will be able to make further investments in child care, so more families can save up to $14,300 on child care every year, per child."

Excerpt: "Through this action plan, Canada’s investments support five key areas: Affordability - Over $25 million toward achieving an average of $10-a-day for child care fees. This investment has made licensed ELCC programming more affordable for all families, regardless of their income or location in the territory. The Government of the Northwest Territories had already reduced out-of-pocket child care fees by an average of 60% as of April 1, 2023, and will reach an average of $10-a-day per child by April 1, 2024, for all licensed ELCC spaces. Access - $770,000 toward preserving and expanding licensed spaces. This investment includes health and safety funding to support repairs and maintenance required during the licensing and inspection process, and start-up funding to purchase supplies, material, and other costs incurred when setting up a new licensed program. Inclusion - In addition to territorial investments, $135,000 dedicated to developing a renewed approach to inclusion. This investment aims to ensure all children experience safe and nurturing environments, including Indigenous children and children needing enhanced or individual supports to fully participate in early learning. Quality - More than $30 million toward initiatives that support the ELCC workforce. This investment will focus on providing professional learning and development, funding post-secondary institutions to offer ELCC education programs, and providing scholarships to part- and full-time post-secondary students enrolled in early childhood development programs. This investment will also help develop a wage grid, with an implementation target date in 2024–2025. Administration and reporting - Almost $5 million toward building targeted capacity and additional resources within the Government of the Northwest Territories to support licensed ELCC space creation, enhance access, and improve reporting capacity."

Excerpt: "Today, the Honourable Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, joined the Honourable Caitlin Cleveland, the Northwest Territories’ Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, to announce that the Northwest Territories will achieve an average of $10-a-day child care fees under the Canada-wide early learning and child care system by April 1, 2024—two years ahead of the national target. Through a combination of funding provided under the Canada–Northwest Territories Early Learning and Child Care Agreement as well as territorial funding, the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories are working together to improve access to high-quality, affordable and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services, with the goal of ensuring that Northwest Territories families that need or want to can access licensed child care for an average of $10 a day. Families in the Northwest Territories could save up to $9,120 a year for each child in licensed child care once fees reach an average of $10 a day."

Excerpt: "Amendments to the Child Day Care Act and the Early Learning and Child Care Standards Regulations, and new Early Learning and Child Care Funding Regulations came into force on May 1, 2023.
The updated and new regulations: Establish maximum fees for newly licensed early learning and child care programs that are consistent with the rates in place since the roll-out of the Child Care Fee Reduction (CCFR) Subsidy; Streamline how the GNWT delivers CCFR Subsidy funding to licensed programs to reduce administrative burden on program operators; Increase reporting measures to improve transparency and accountability by requiring the GNWT to produce annual reports; Update language for consistency and clarity; for example, ‘early learning and child care facility’ will replace ‘child day care facility’ throughout."

Excerpt: "As of April 1st, the average cost of licensed child care for children five years of age and younger was reduced, on average, by 60 per cent. This means that families in the NWT are now saving up to $545 a month per child in child care fees. Families can expect to see further cost reductions until we reach our goal of an average of $10 per day child care."

Excerpt: "The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) has released plans to update student assessment tools and practices as it works toward implementing the new adapted Northwest Territories (NWT) Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 (JK-12) curriculum. Assessment tools and practices include report cards, standardized tests, and exams. Educators assess student learning by gathering evidence about what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge."

Budget 2015-16 provides $4.9 million in funding for actions in support of improving health and well-being, including: $1.12 million to support the Early Childhood Development Action Plan and enhance community-based early intervention service delivery to improve the care of youngsters.

An action plan outlining the Government’s future priorities for programs and funding.

Minister Lafferty tabled a Junior Kindergarten Information Kit that provides background on Junior Kindergarten, the Government of the Northwest Territories’ (GNWT) financial investment in the education system, dedicated funding for Inclusive Schooling and the NWT’s Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR). The information kit also looked at the projected impact of implementing Junior Kindergarten on the two Yellowknife school boards, Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS) and Yellowknife Education District No. 1.