What's happening at CRRU?
As Canada-wide early learning and child care agreements are almost all now in place, and implementation of Action Plans has begun, we have reorganized our Canada-wide early learning and child care agreements Issue file to make it easier to navigate. In the coming weeks we will be creating a new resource file organizing information about the implementation of the agreements as it becomes available.
The CRRU office is open Monday through Thursday. We continue to be available via email at contactus@childcarecanada.org.
Featured
End of year one: Building a Canada-wide system of early learning and child care
Child Care Now, 23 March 2022, 7:00–8:15 pm EDT
Child Care Now, Childcare Resource and Research Unit, and Canadian Child Care Federation are hosting a national webinar to discuss the progress on the Canada-wide early learning and child care system following the federal government’s historic $30 billion spending commitment in Budget 2021. The webinar will address the challenges and opportunities ahead to build a high quality, truly accessible, affordable system for all.
Child care and the environment: Intersections and opportunities in BC
Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and Early Childhood Educators of BC, 15 March 2022
This policy note by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and Early Childhood Educators of BC describes five key intersections between the issues of child care and climate change: 1. Protecting children’s environmental health; 2. Improving buildings; 3. Reducing transportation emissions; 4. Powering the clean economy; and 5. Helping all families engage. The report provides ten recommendations to the BC government for concrete action in both areas.
Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work
International Labor Organization, 12 March 2022
Chapter seven of the International Labour Organization report on care leave policies highlights a lack of child care provisions as a universal right across many countries. The report suggests that child care policies should be considered “an essential element of the continuum of care policies”. The report also notes that when designing a national child care system it is important to emphasize that publicly funded and supplied services are the better model, as opposed to parental subsidies which are often contingent on eligibility criteria not inclusive of all families.
CA: Daycare workers are exiting the profession in droves, just as access for parents opens up
Globe and Mail, 12 March 2022
Research, policy and practice
Report back on emergency child care workforce crisis roundtables
eceLINK, 14 March 2022
This report highlights discussion from the roundtables on the child care workforce crisis hosted by the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario and the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. Participants from the roundtables reported the many challenges the sector faces which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of government support and direction. The report calls on governments to centre the experiences of workers when making policy and funding decisions.
International Women's Day survey 2022: Careers and child care
The Global Institute for Women's Leadership - King's College London, 8 March 2022
Based on a 30-country survey, this UK report provides gender-based data surrounding institutional bias and care duties impacting the professional lives of women. Findings suggest that 35% of people around the world believe that child care responsibilities can damage a woman’s career more than a man’s. Additionally, close to one in three women (31%) also note that ‘caring responsibilities’ have played an impact in their professional lives.
The here and now: Reimagining early childhoods in urgent times
Issue 4: Moving beyond readiness: What is possible when early childhood education is a project of today
Early Childhood Pedagogy Network, February 2022
This fourth issue from the Early Childhood Pedagogy Network responds to the BC Government’s commitment to invest $125,000 to expand the Just Be Four (Just B4) early childhood education programs. The Just B4 programs are licensed BC half-day early years programs for children entering kindergarten the following year. The introduction of this initiative provides an opportunity to ask critical questions regarding the values that shape early childhood education policy.
Employment, child care spending, and child tax benefits
National Tax Journal, June 2021This paper examines the impact of the expansion of Canada's Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) in 2015 on parent earnings and child care spending. The analysis shows minimal effects of the benefit expansion with the least effect observed in single women with below-average incomes. The author concludes that the UCCB is not an efficient policy tool to guarantee families are using the funds for child care costs as intended.
Child care in the news
CA: How more men taking paternity leave could save mothers’ careers
Globe and Mail, 16 March 2022
NL: Government recruiting early childhood educators to meet future demand
VOCM, 10 March 2022
NL: As the St. John's region childcare crisis worsens, many are wondering, 'how are people supposed to afford to have children if they can’t work?'
Saltwire, 9 March 2022
NS: Halifax daycare closing due to government plans for sector, says owner
CBC News, 11 March 2022
ON: A workforce at breaking point - Rising up
Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario and Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, 15 March 2022
ON: Hamilton hairstylist says she lost parental benefits after lockdowns limited her work hours
CBC News, 15 March 2022
ON: ECEs call for a provincial child care workforce strategy, including a $25 minimum wage, to address Ontario’s growing child care worker shortage
Financial Post, 15 March 2022
ON: Parents with kids under age 5 feel 'left behind' with ending of mask mandates
CBC News, 13 March 2022
ON: Where is Ontario's childcare deal?
Good Morning Hamilton, 9 March 2022
ON: How Ontario did — and didn’t — approach a child-care deal
iPolitics, 9 March 2022
SK: Opinion: Provincial budget must be focused on job creation
The Star Phoenix, 14 March 2022
AB: Calgary daycare demand surges as work-from-home mandate lifts
Global News, 14 March 2022
BC: B.C. revamps immigration program to address shortage of health, child care workers
Pique News Magazine, 13 March 2022
BC: Child care workers deserved better than this
The Tyee, 7 March 2022
INTL: Closing the global child care gap
The Jordan Times, 9 March 2022
UK: One in five Britons say their careers have been held back by childcare or other care duties
King’s College London, 8 March 2022
Events
Building a child care system in Saskatchewan: Pathways and pitfalls in policy implementation
Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, 23 March 2022, 12:00–1:30pm CDT
This panel will discuss the challenges and possibilities associated with developing a Canada-wide early learning and child care system, specifically regarding policy implementation.
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