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News & Stories: Policy Monitor

July 19, 2024

Excerpt: "For the 2024–25 benefit year, families can receive up to $7,787 per child under the age of 6 and $6,570 per child aged 6 through 17. This means moms and dads could receive up to $350 more than last year. This represents an increase of 4.7% from the previous year. The Canada Child Benefit has been indexed to inflation using Consumer Price Index data as reported by Statistics Canada—a widely used measure of inflation. Indexing the Canada Child Benefit occurs every July, ensuring that the benefit protects families from inflation and provides certainty and predictability of support parents can count on."
July 8, 2024

Excerpt: "New annual reporting requirements will provide the public with additional insight into how much government funding is being invested in child care in B.C., as well as the outcomes achieved from this funding. Also starting Sept. 1, 2024, enhanced affordable child care benefit supports will be available to families when their child care is arranged or recommended by an Indigenous authority under Indigenous law. This means families will receive the same support with their child care costs, regardless of whether their child care is arranged or recommended by the Ministry of Children and Family Development, Indigenous Child and Family Service Agencies, or under Indigenous law. Families, child care providers and early childhood educators will continue to receive the same level of support from the current fee reductions, operational funding and wage-enhancement programs through the Early Learning and Child Care Act."
July 8, 2024

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."
July 2, 2024

Excerpt: "The Manitoba government has made amendments to the Child Care Regulation to increase the operating grants for all licensed and provincially funded early learning and child-care facilities, federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds and Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Nello Altomare announced today. The amendments brought into force a 2.75 per cent increase to the wage grid supplement provided to facilities, effective July 1, and a five percent increase to the base operating grants, retroactively effective April 1."
June 27, 2024

Excerpt: "The Ontario government is doubling investments to a historic $1.3 billion to support the building of new state-of-the-art schools, as well as school expansions and renovations across the province. This funding for infrastructure projects, the largest-ever one-year allocation through the Capital Priorities Program, will lead to the creation of more than 27,000 new student spaces and more than 1,700 child care spaces."
June 26, 2024

Excerpt: "Today, applications are being accepted for the new Working Opportunities Program. Funded through a $3.5 million provincial investment in Budget 2024, the Working Opportunities Program will enable individuals who are not eligible for the federally funded Skills Development Program to avail of similar financial supports for training. Working Opportunities enables non-EI eligible individuals with barriers to workforce participation and post-secondary education to retrain and upskill, creating more stable employment and improving their well-being. This program will also help address shortages in the workforce. The program will support people eligible to attend post-secondary schooling that will lead to employment, including funding for a living allowance, child care and costs of training. Participants will attend full-time post-secondary programs that are a minimum of 12 weeks and a maximum of three years in duration at a public or private training institution in Newfoundland and Labrador."
June 12, 2024

Excerpt: "The act will require regulatory bodies to reduce red tape and remove barriers in 29 professions and make it easier, more transparent and quicker for those qualified professionals to pursue and achieve credential recognition, no matter where they were trained. One major change is eliminating the catch-22 of unnecessary Canadian work experience requirements for experienced internationally trained professionals. The catch-22 was that a person needed work experience to work in Canada, but couldn’t work in Canada because of the lack of Canadian work experience. The professions include engineers, social workers, veterinarians, paramedics, early childhood educators, teachers, biologists, land surveyors, architects and more."
June 20, 2024

Excerpt: "School food programs provide children and youth with meals and/or snacks at school, often at no-to-low cost for participating families. Providing food to children and youth provides many benefits, including reducing hunger, improving nutrition and health outcomes, supporting local economies, reducing food-related spending for families. With an investment of $1 billion over five years, the Program, included in Budget 2024, will provide meals to up to 400,000 more kids every year, beyond those served by existing school food programs. A National School Food Program will also help support families by reducing food costs. Research shows that school meal programs can provide an estimated $800 per year in relief to participating families with two children. This will mean peace of mind for parents and healthy meals for kids – helping them get the best start to life. The Program will also be a safety net for the kids who need this support the most. We’re going to work with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners to get this program to schools across the country."
June 13, 2024

Excerpt: "Through a five-year Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Education, the South Korean Ministry of Education and the College of the North Atlantic, eligible Korean students are able to participate in an early childhood education work placement program in Newfoundland and Labrador. The program is managed by the department and College of the North Atlantic. The first group of 14 students have arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador and have started their work placements in child care centres in the St. John’s area. The Department of Education is coordinating with work placement sites to ensure continued programming and supports for students during their time in the province."
June 17, 2024

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."
May 1, 2024

Excerpt: "Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House to highlight our government’s efforts to improve access to early learning and child care in the province. These efforts have been recognized in a recent report by the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, which ranks Newfoundland and Labrador fourth in the country amongst all provinces and territories when comparing governance, funding, access, the early learning environment, and accountability. Speaker, our government has been listening and responding to the needs of families, service providers, and the early learning workforce. We have implemented recruitment and retention initiatives for early childhood educators; we have provided incentives and funding to increase the number of early learning and child care spaces; and we are continuing to ensure that regulated child care is high quality, affordable and inclusive."
June 14, 2024

Excerpt: "Since opening their doors, these three centres have already provided early years programming and parent support to over 600 families. Families with children up to age six can access a range of services including positive parenting programs, literacy opportunities and support for children's development. The centres are led by local management committees that represent a broad mix of government, community-based service providers and organizations who make decisions about specific programs and services based on localized needs. "We continue to improve access to early years programming and family support through the Early Years Family Resource Centres," Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said. "Parents who have accessed services at one of the many FRCs in the province have reported improved parenting skills and knowledge, improved child development and increased family engagement.""