Highlights

Risky business: Child care ownership in Canada past, present and future
Childcare Resource and Research Unit, 30 June 2021
This new comprehensive CRRU Occasional Paper is intended to inform public and policy debate surrounding the issues of ownership and auspice in early learning and child care. The paper concludes that – based on all we know about building the foundations for a publicly funded, high quality, universal child care system – advancing for-profit child care is a risk, not an asset.

Canada’s roadmap to affordable child care for all
Child Care Now, 6 July 2021
Child Care Now has released a roadmap to building a universal, publicly funded and managed child care system in Canada using the substantial federal funds to drive transformational changes in early learning and child care (ELCC). Child Care Now notes that transformation of Canadian ELCC will require two broad overarching elements of system change in each province/territory: 1) a shift in the way all regulated child care services are managed and funded, and 2) creation of expansion strategies to increase the supply of regulated services through non-profit and public child care service delivery. The authors describe ten interrelated elements that must be included when building Canada-wide ELCC system. 

Non-standard work and child care in Canada: A challenge for parents, policy makers, and child care provision [REVISED]
University of Guelph & Childcare Resource & Research Unit, 13 February 2020
This research report describes and contextualizes the challenges experienced by over 700,000 Canadian parents of preschool-aged children who work non-standard hours. It proposes a broad range of recommendations to promote stable, high quality child care to meet their needs. The report was revised in June 2021 and the revised version includes changes in Chapter 3, Executive Summaries and final chapter due to reanalysis of Statistics Canada data.

Research, policy and practice

The true cost of high-quality child care across the United States
Center for American Progress, 28 June 2021
Author Simon Workman highlights the high cost of child care in the US, noting that the high price often fails to account for the actual costs incurred and rarely covers the "true" cost of providing high-quality, developmentally appropriate, safe and reliable child care staffed by a professionally compensated workforce. An interactive child care cost estimator is included and allows users to see the impact of different program characteristics on the cost of child care. Workman suggests that increased public investment in child care is needed to help families access high quality, affordable care that meets their needs. 

COVID-19 and childcare: Why many nurseries will struggle to weather the storm
London School of Economics, 7 April 2020
In this blog post, Helen Penn, Antonia Simon and Eva Lloyd explain why nurseries are struggling to cope with the high costs of the ongoing pandemic and show how the current health crisis increases the risk of smaller nurseries being taken over by big financialized chains, resulting in expansion of the private sector. The authors highlight issues that often characterize the private child care sector in England: high parent fees, inconsistent staff qualifications, inadequate wages and compensation. They note that reliance on parent fees to increase profits causes mounting challenges for parents to access care, particularly during the pandemic. They conclude with a call for a reform of child care as essential and integral to the education and employment infrastructure.

Indigenous ways of knowing: The early learning perspective
Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta, 5 May 2019
In this paper, the author identifies and introduces the Indigenous perspectives of early learning and ways of knowing. The paper provides background knowledge about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, language and terminology, and history of Indigenous education. The author also discusses how Alberta’s Early Learning and Care Framework may share and further support the values outlined in Canada’s Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework. The paper suggests ways that child care programs can honour Indigenous culture through accomplishing accreditation standards. 

Toward Reconciliation: What do the Calls to Action mean for early childhood education?
Journal of Early Childhood Studies, 30 May 2017
This article focuses on how the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Calls to Action pertain to early childhood education and care (ECEC). The author, who is an early childhood student, examines her understanding of reconciliation within early childhood environments by considering the TRC's call to develop culturally appropriate curricula. As she unpacks her previously held assumptions about dominant discourses, the author explores Indigenous ways of looking at child autonomy, health and nutrition, artistic explorations, languages, role of parents and community, and treaty relationships.

Child care in the news

CA: Opinion: 'Monumental need' for child care in wake of pandemic
Toronto Star, 2 July 2021

CA: Canada commits to bold and unprecedented global investments to support a caring economy and advance women’s rights
Oxfam Canada, 30 June 2021

CA: Canada facing early childhood educator recruitment crisis
NewsTalk 610, 29 June 2021

CA: Opinion: We witnessed the cruelty of residential schools as child-care workers. We will not remain silent about what we saw
The Globe and Mail, 4 June 2021

NS: New immigration stream helps fill labour gaps in health and child care
Government of Nova Scotia, 30 June 2021

NS: Coalition releases recommendations for universal, publicly funded, not-for-profit early learning and child care
Halifax Examiner, 29 June 2021

QC: Les CPE en «zone de turbulences»
Le Devoir, 5 July 2021

QC: Des parents sans garderie contraints au congé forcé
Journal de Montréal, 4 July 2021

QC: Des parents réclament plus d'inclusion dans les garderies
La Presse, 4 July 2021

ON: In wake of school graves — grief, mourning, but also solidarity, joy needed to heal
Windsor Star, 29 June 2021

ON: Windsor program provides free child care for parents who need a COVID-19 vaccine
CBC News, 28 June 2021

BC: Community Hub to bring child care services to Elkford
E-know.ca, 5 July 2021

US: The U.S. once had government-provided childcare. Where is it now?
KGOU, 2 July 2021

US: Families struggle with child care costs as life returns to “normal”
Forbes, 30 June 2021

INTL: From one year to 10 days: A look at paternity leaves around the world
Agence France-Presse (AFP), 2 July 2021

INTL: Which countries have the most generous child-care policies?
The Economist, 1 July 2021

Events

Webinar: Child care advocacy in Ontario: Take action together: Community connections
AECEO & OCBCC, 8 July 2021, 7:00 - 8:30 pm EST
Join the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario and Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care for their upcoming webinar on child care advocacy in Ontario. The event will start with an update on the Road Map and reviewed vision of what a Canada-wide child care system can do for Ontario. The organizers will walk through the Summer Advocacy Tool-Kit and talk about the power of collective action. The webinar will then move into regional break out rooms hosted by local advocates to connect, think, organize, and plan together. There will also be a question and answer period.