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Policy Monitor

The Policy Monitor tracks Federal, Provincial and Territorial early childhood policy initiatives, developments and announcements.

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Canada
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鈥檚 Minister of Education, to announce the creation of just over 2,900 new affordable child care spaces in Ottawa. As part of the Canada鈥揙ntario 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."

Canada
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."

Manitoba
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. 鈥淥ur 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,鈥 said Ewasko. 鈥淭hese 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.鈥"

Manitoba
Excerpt: "The governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing more than $24 million to develop and expand early childhood educator (ECE) and child-care assistant (CCA) training programs at Manitoba鈥檚 post-secondary institutions over the next three years. 鈥淓arlier this year, our government invited Manitoba鈥檚 publicly-funded post-secondary institutions to submit proposals to develop or expand education and training programs for the early learning and child-care sector,鈥 said Guillemard. 鈥淚鈥檓 pleased that five post-secondary institutions have been approved to receive funding, with a number of them updating their program delivery to provide more flexible, accelerated training options that meet the standards for certification.鈥 Five public post-secondary institutions will receive funding to expand training for child-care professionals following an invitation from the province to submit expressions of interest in March 2023. This funding will add an estimated 998 seats in the province over a three-year period and will support approximately 2,000 total new student admissions."

Newfoundland & Labrador
Excerpt: "The Provincial Government is issuing a call for members to expand the Minister of Education鈥檚 Early Learning and Child Care Advisory Committee. Members of the advisory committee will contribute to the development and implementation of the provincial Early Learning Action Plan 2023-2026. The committee will provide advice to the Minister of Education respecting early learning and child care, programs and services, and funding and activities that support early learning and child care and ensure a high quality and inclusive system."

Manitoba
Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is investing more than $1.6 million to expand access to early years evaluations and digital assessment tools in English and French for educators and clinicians across the province, to support early identification of learning needs, Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced today. 鈥淥ur government knows how important it is for educators and clinicians to be able to identify learning needs early on, especially to support literacy instruction and intervention,鈥 said Ewasko. 鈥淭hese new resources will provide teachers and clinicians with equitable access to early identification tools, specialized assessments and interventions to identify student learning needs, and develop supports and programming to improve outcomes.鈥"

Newfoundland & Labrador
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."

Saskatchewan
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."

Yukon
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鈥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."

Nunavut
Excerpt: "The aim of the Nunavut Early Learning and Child Care Quality Framework is to present a clear and accessible vision for ELCC in Nunavut that supports the development and delivery of ELCC programs and services across the territory. Whether this takes place in the home, child care settings, community-based programs, or parenting centres in remote or urban communities, all ELCC programs developed and delivered in Nunavut should align with the vision and guiding principles presented in this framework."

Northwest Territories
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 鈥淐hild and Family Services Act: Proposed Amendments Discussion Paper鈥. 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."

Yukon
Excerpt: "鈥淯nderstanding the Early Years鈥 is a Yukon First Nations designed and developed course that will be offered in Whitehorse and in rural communities, with special focus on communities that have limited access to professional development. The course provides opportunities for both employees of licensed programs currently working without a certificate level and Yukoners wanting to enter the early childhood education field. Yukoners who successfully complete the course will receive a Level 1 certificate to practice as an early childhood educator from the Yukon Department of Education鈥檚 Early Learning and Child Care Unit."