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Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Atkinson Centre Fellow In Early Childhood Policy, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development

Master of Education (MEd) in Developmental Psychology and Education
Expected year of graduation: 2024

Panel discussing Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada.

Monica HELLER, "Éléments d'une sociolinguistique critique, 20 ans plus tard : chronique d'une réédition", La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO, octobre 2023.

Excerpt: "Your government has amended the Early Childhood Services Act and implemented the Federal-Provincial Early Learning and Childcare Action Plan to create 550 new designated childcare spaces this year and reduced out-of-pocket fees for families on average by 50 per cent. The funding agreement aims to provide New Brunswick families with an average fee of $10 per day childcare by 2025-26. Your government has also increased early childhood educator wages by 24 per cent and increased retention by 46 per cent."

It is no secret that there are big differences between post-Soviet countries and societies from the shores of the Baltic sea to the mountains of Tajikistan.

Excerpt: "For the past 50 years, the Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) program has supplied Canadian employers with low-cost migrant labour. Temporary work permits are well known in the agriculture, home and health care sectors. Child care has more recently joined the list, with governments in Quebec and Nova Scotia actively recruiting early child educators (ECEs) from overseas, along with a massive surge in requests from employers to hire foreign-trained staff. Worker advocates charge the sudden expansion will take pressure off governments and child care providers to address low wages. For the first time ever the early childhood workforce has some bargaining power thanks to federal investment and agreements with the provinces and territories to lower parent fees and expand access. ECEs are in high demand, but rather than negotiating with provinces to increase earnings to attract and retain educators, Ottawa has loosened the rules which curbed TFW abuses and expanded the number of migrant workers that employers can hire."

The Atkinson Centre promotes research on child development, and the development of early learning policy and practice that serve young children and their families.

Excerpt: "The Ontario government is expanding licensed child care spaces in the City of London by investing $62.3 million in 2023 to support the implementation of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system. The funding will help create an additional 2,889 licensed child care spaces enrolled in the CWELCC system in Ontario in the City of London by 2026, representing a 28 per cent increase of new spaces for children aged zero to five in the community. These new spaces are on top of the 9,092 spaces enrolled in the CWELCC system in the City of London last year."

Presented by Dr. Emis Akbari, Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, at an ECE Appreciation event in the District of Timiskaming, October 12, 2023.