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Excerpt: "As of September 1, 2017, Ontario now requires school boards to provide before- and after-school programs for children up to age 12, in all publicly funded elementary schools serving students up to Grade 6, where there is sufficient demand. These programs provide additional opportunities for play-based programming, and are a critical support for parents who rely on before- and after-school care to accommodate their work schedules."

Le CREFO reçoit le Prix du 3-Juillet-1608

Excerpt: "The agreement allocates just over $7 million, over three years, to Nunavut for early learning and child care investments. The territory's funding will focus on early learning and child care programs and services to support parents, families, and communities to ensure the best possible future for children in the territory."

Excerpt: "As well, to assist hard-working parents and guardians, to strengthen our economy, and to assist businesses with recruitment and retention, we’re moving forward with plans to provide a quality, accessible, and affordable child care plan for families. Our first step is moving forward with $20 million in new child care investments that will increase our spending on early childhood development and child care to $330 million this year and support more than 4,000 new child care spaces."

Excerpt: "We will deliver a provincewide universal child care program that is safe, accessible and affordable. We will start by creating more spaces to help families waiting months or years for quality care and training more early childhood educators. And this fall, government will consult with families and child care providers on the best way forward."

Excerpt: "Under this agreement, the federal government will invest close to $30 million to improve early learning and child care for preschool-aged children in New Brunswick. The province will contribute an additional $41 million for a total of $71 million; Investments will transform at least 300 current child care providers into designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centres which will provide more quality spaces, have lower fee structures, and implement inclusion policies and guidelines for francophone minority communities. Funding will also be used to provide professional development opportunities for early child care educators and to support other initiatives to improve early learning and child care in the province."

"The agreement allocates $10.5 million, over three years, to Prince Edward Island for early learning and child care investments. The Island's funding focus will be on early learning and child care access for vulnerable children such as infants, pre-schoolers, children whose parents work seasonally or non-standard hours, and under-served populations including Newcomer families and Acadian and French speaking communities. Funding will also be directed towards professional training for early learning and care educators with the aim of improving the quality and richness of experiences for children."

Highlights: More spaces for infants and pre-schoolers - $3.6 million; More access for children who are most vulnerable - $2.5 million; More supports for children with unique needs - $1.5 million; More support for parents who work non-standard hours - $1.5 million; More supports for the acadian and francophone community - $180,000; More supports for newcomer families - $72,000; Training for early childhood educators - $215,000; Monitoring access and quality - $882,000.

Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Atkinson Centre Fellow In Early Childhood Policy, Global Need for Formal Child Care Symposium, August 11, 2017.

Excerpt: "The New Child Care Act includes: Replacing the former Child Care Services Act effective today (July 31); Improving safety and security standards for the well-being of our children at their most vulnerable stages; Clarifying and strengthening licensing exemptions; Removing the cap on the number of spaces per child care centre; Enhancing qualification expectations by requiring entry-level certification to become trainee certification, requiring early childhood educators to upgrade to a post-secondary one-year Early Childhood Education Certificate within a five-year period; Enhancing qualifications for administrators of infant-only family homes to include the requirement of a Level I certification with an infant classification; Ensuring child care providers have a secure building policy and enhanced physical space requirements to increase quality of care; and Committing to a mandatory five-year legislative review with public consultation to allow the opportunity for feedback."

Excerpt: "This external evaluation of StrongStart BC is intended to generate knowledge and understanding about the efficacy of the program in meeting its objectives to support children’s early development and transition to kindergarten. It presents findings relating to service delivery and the experiences of children and families, and highlights some of the strengths, challenges and future considerations for StrongStart BC. The evaluation was commissioned by the BC Ministry of Education and the Provincial Office for the Early Years and carried outby researchers from the University of Toronto."

Excerpt: Excerpt: "Forty-three locations across the province have been selected to offer pre-primary programming to four-year-olds this fall. “For the first time, Nova Scotia families will have access to a free pre-primary program for four-year-olds,” said Zach Churchill, Minister, Education and Early Childhood Development. “This investment will support the futures of our youngest Nova Scotians and save their families thousands of dollars in child care costs.”