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Not on the Backs of Children
Source: Toronto Star, July 29, 2011
Excerpt: "The children of Toronto had nothing to do with this city’s budget woes but they could end up paying a steep price. Economists have analyzed recommendations to gut Toronto's licensed child-care system and have flagged potential blowback that KPMG’s accountants never considered, but Toronto’s council and citizens should…. Those 60,000 parents may not be the millionaires of Bay Street but their earnings add an estimated $4 billion to the economy every year, a welcome shot in the arm, especially post-recession."
Working Mothers Do No Harm To Their Young Children, Research Finds
Source: Guardian (UK), July 22, 2011
Excerpt: "Mothers do not harm their young children emotionally or socially by going out to work, according to research that offers reassurance to women worried about juggling jobs and family responsibilities. In fact, girls seem to gain from being in a household where their mother works, according to analysis of families with children born in 2000. In a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, a team from the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London found…"
Nunavik Childcare Centres Develop New Assessment Tool
Source: Nunasiaq online (QC), July 22, 2011
Excerpt: "A new way of assessing children’s development has travelled from New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people to the Inuit of Nunavik…. In New Zealand, Maori educators found that it privileged and empowered Maori children instead of looking at the "deficit, problematic Maori child" by celebrating children’s learning achievements."
Premiers Focus on Families
Source: Council of the Federation, July 21, 2011 (news release)
Excerpt: "Premiers today lent their collective voice to emphasize the importance of families in the decisions their governments make and discussed how to address some of the many challenges Canadian families face.... Providing children with a good start is key to ensuring they grow into healthy adults with the best opportunities to succeed. Providing parents with choice about how to care for their children and making quality and accessible child care both affordable and available is critical. Provinces and territories have been active in promoting early childhood development and have pursued policies that focus on increased parental choice and improvements in the quality of child care. Premiers agreed that governments must work together to ensure adequate support for parents - for the benefit of families and the economy. Premiers noted that on their own, the current maternity and parental benefits under the EI program for participating provinces and territories are inadequate to provide the type of support required for many Canadian families to make parental leave a viable choice.'"
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Study Grapples With How to Assess Social-Emotional Skills
Source: Early Ed Watch (New America Foundation), July 20, 2011
Excerpt: "Educators have been saying for years that the children who have a positive experience in kindergarten are those who arrive with the ability to get along with their peers, keep their emotions in check and persist in the face of challenging assignments. But it’s not always easy to determine whether a preschool-aged child possesses those skills or can show they are learning them. In the past few years, however, new research is providing some hints…. Denham and her research team have been testing what types of instruments would be most reliable for assessing children’s abilities as a way of gathering data on which children may need additional support in childcare, preschool and elementary school."
Celebrating Success - $5M to Support Aboriginal Children
Source: Government of BC, July 4, 2011 (news release)
Excerpt: "The Province is investing $5 million in 2011 to continue to support programs aimed at supporting the health and well-being of Aboriginal children. Last year, $6 million in funding supported 547 community projects across B.C. The funding is allocated by the First Nations and Urban Aboriginal Early Childhood Development Steering Committee, who receive and review funding proposals and administer funds to successful applicants."
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Memo on Services for Students with Special Needs and Full-Day K (pdf)
Source: Ontario Ministry of Education, July 14, 2011
Description: "… a memo regarding services for students with special needs / special education needs and full-day kindergarten, Year Two (2011-12). Directors of Education are asked to please forward this memo to your SEAC chair."
Ottawa Failing Natives on Education, Child-Welfare Advocate Says
Source: Globe and Mail, July 14, 2011
Excerpt: "A child-welfare advocate is accusing the federal government of failing natives when it comes to education, saying that funding military projects and other initiatives should never come at the expense of a young person’s future. Cindy Blackstock made the comments Wednesday at a special session on education at the annual meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Moncton."
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Child Care Isn’t a Frill
Source: Toronto Star, July 13, 2011
Excerpt: "Ottawa has abandoned the very idea of regulated child care and the province has refused to pay enough to cover its true costs. For far too many years, Toronto has been forced to scrape together the money needed to keep the city’s vital, yet unstable, child-care system going. So it’s little surprise that the consultants hired to comb through city services looking for potential savings have a lot to say about child care."
Montreal Daycare Targets Corporate Clients
Source: Montreal Gazette, July 12, 2011
Excerpt: "Toronto-based Kids and Company held an open house Tuesday at its 34th daycare, and second Montreal location... The company's first location, on René Lévesque Blvd. corner of Peel St., which opened five years ago, already has a waiting list, so it decided to add another location to help meet demand. "We thought we would stop at just two locations in Montreal, but based on the demand I’m seeing today, we’ll definitely open a third sometime soon," said company co-founder and CEO Victoria Sopik."
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Toronto: Cut 2,000 Daycare Subsidies, Consultants Suggest
Source: Toronto Star, July 11, 2011
Excerpt: "Toronto could save money by eliminating subsidies for 2,000 daycare spaces, ridding itself of nine long-term-care homes and 55 daycares, and merging its firefighting and ambulance operations, the third KPMG report on the city’s services says.... There are about 53,000 child care spaces in Toronto, about 22,000 subsidized jointly by the province, which pays 80 per cent of the cost, and the city, which pays 20 per cent. The consultants suggested that the city look at "phasing out" city subsidies for 2,000 spaces for which the province has declined to contribute. Those cost the city $24 million per year. But there are already about 20,000 people on a city waiting list for subsidized child care."
Is Subsidized Daycare Bad for Kids?
Source: Macleans, July 11, 2011
Excerpt: "But now three Montreal researchers have studied the Quebec experiment, focusing on how the rapid expansion of $7-a-day daycare seems to be reflected in Quebec kids' scores on a school-readiness test. Their findings are potentially explosive. “In summary,” they write, “the effects of the program are found to be negative for five-year-olds and less convincingly negative for four-year-olds.""
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Looking to the Future for B.C. Children
Source: Times Colonist, July 8, 2011
Excerpt: "Child care in B.C. could cost parents just $10 a day if an ambitious proposal by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. ever gets the green light from the province…. To tackle infant childcare, which is the most expensive, the plan advocates extending paid parental leave to 18 months. New benefits would be a maximum of 80 per cent of parents' income up to $60,000 a year, with a minimum benefit of $22,880 annually. Early childcare educators would work alongside teachers to provide full-day, full-year care, earning an average wage of $25 an hour with benefits if they have a bachelor of education degree."
Avenir d’enfants Grants $11.5M in Support for 66 Local Communities and Nearly $12.5M for Knowledge-Sharing Projects (pdf)
Source: Avenir d’enfants, June 20, 2011
Excerpt: "Lyse Brunet, General Manager of Avenir d'enfants, explains: "A year and a half after the creation of Avenir d’enfants, we applaud the enthusiasm of our local partners for implementing early childhood activities and initiatives. These activities may, for example, focus on language stimulation, transition from child care centres to schooling, support and networking for parents etc. Over six months, we’ve seen a 60% increase in the number of communities involved -- proof that early childhood education is a priority for local stakeholders.""
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Did You Know That... Child Care is a Right?
Source: Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, July 5, 2011
Excerpt: "Canada has signed international treaties promising to honour the right to child care. This means the Canadian government is obligated to: Provide quality programs for children staffed by well educated and fairly paid professionals; Fund child care so that it is affordable for all families; Implement strong family policies with extended parental leave, income supports and family support services. More explicitly:
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Young children have the right to quality early childhood education which focuses on the best interest of each child.
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Parents have the right to access affordable, inclusive child care which reflects the uniqueness of their community.
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ECEs have the right to fair wages and benefits and to be respected for the important work they do.
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Women have the right to work and to advocate for their rights.
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Canadians have the right to expect that our rights will be upheld."
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Parents Set to Benefit from Changes to Free Childcare
Source: Guardian (UK), July 5, 2011
Excerpt: "Parents of all three- and four-year-olds are currently entitled to 15 hours of free childcare, which they have to use spread across three days…. that the time can be used in two days, enabling many more parents of toddlers to get a part-time job without paying extra to top up the free childcare…. also propose an extension to the time in which the hours can be used; from 7am to 7pm rather than from 8am to 6pm as at present, fitting in better with the hours of commuters and shift-workers…. In a further change, Teather will propose that every two-year-old should receive a progress check, to pick up any signs of delay in development…. The government will declare on Wednesday that getting children "school ready" is to be the new core purpose of children's centres…. The minister is also looking at encouraging parents and charities to become more involved in running Sure Start children's centres, arguing that community-based models are more likely to respond to parents' needs."
We Invest in Roads; Why Not People?
Source: Hamilton Spectator, July 5, 2011
Excerpt: "When governments put money in “hard” infrastructure, such as repairing a road, they are confident it will pay for itself. The immediate economic impact of paying for workers and materials is obvious. The longer term payoff in terms of producing economic activity is nevertheless much greater, yet involves a complex web of relationships that cannot be directly observed. While we cannot directly see the cause-effect relationship of efficient transportation systems, experience has taught us that such infrastructure is needed for economic growth. Yet, when governments invest in people and social services, somehow these direct and indirect benefits fall off the radar."
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Edleun Completes Acquisitions of Five Child Care Centres, Agreements for Two Redevelopment Properties and an Additional Centre in BC
Source: CNW, July 4, 2011 (media release)
Excerpt: "Edleun Group, Inc… a leading Canadian operator, consolidator and developer of Early Learning & Care facilities, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of five child care centres, agreements for two redevelopment properties and an additional centre in the province of British Columbia, previously announced, in part, on March 24, 2011 and April 21, 2011. "Closing of these acquisitions cements our initial move into the British Columbia marketplace, which broadens national awareness of the Edleun brand and creates new child care spaces in underserved communities," said Leslie Wulf, Chief Executive Officer of Edleun."
Working Women Are the Key to Norway's Prosperity
Source: New York Times (US), June 28, 2011
Excerpt: "Oil helps, of course. But ultimately, the Nordic success story isn't about lucrative natural resources — Sweden, Finland and Denmark can’t rely on fossil fuel reserves — but lucrative human resources: The region combines the world’s highest female employment rates with some of the most impressive fertility rates in developed countries — one reason why it has weathered the crisis with solid public finances and respectable growth (Iceland being the notable exception). All told, family policy, including a system of child care from a guaranteed place for 1-year-olds to after-school and vacation care, costs the Norwegian government 2.8 percent of gross domestic product. "These policies are expensive, but their cost is offset by the return in terms of female labor supply and tax revenues," says Danielle Venn, a labor economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development."
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