Policy Monitor

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."

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."

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."

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."

Excerpt: "The Junior Kindergarten program rolled out across the NWT in the 2017-18 school year. Since this time, ECE has been able to compare the Early Development Instrument rates of children who attended Junior Kindergarten with the Early Development Instrument rates of children who did not attend Junior Kindergarten. Thirty-eight percent of children who attended Junior Kindergarten are developmentally “on track” by Kindergarten, while 32 percent of children who did not attend Junior Kindergarten are developmentally “on track” (Figure 23). While the difference is not large, it has been consistent over time and aligns with research suggesting that participation in early learning programs is beneficial to children. This difference is most pronounced in Yellowknife and regional centres."

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.""

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."

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."

Excerpt: "School District 71 (Comox Valley) received almost $8 million in provincial funding through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund to build new child care on school grounds. Seventy-five new spaces at each school will be created for a total of 150 new spaces. This includes 24 spaces for infant-toddlers, 32 spaces for kids aged three to five and 94 new spaces for school-age care on school grounds. “These two new child care facilities represent a significant step forward in providing accessible, affordable and high-quality early-learning environments for families in the Comox Valley,” said Michelle Waite, board chair, Comox Valley Schools. “The centres at Arden and Glacier View will help parents with supporting their families and pursuing their professional and educational goals with the confidence that their children are receiving excellent care and education.”"

Excerpt: "In 2024, the Province is providing funding for 26 more playgrounds in 26 school districts, each receiving $195,000. This investment in playgrounds promotes physical activity for kids, teaches social skills, such as sharing, and helps them develop life skills, such as conflict resolution. The playgrounds are also designed to be accessible for children of all abilities. Last year’s provincial investment of $5 million supported 25 new school playgrounds – 20 are complete, while the remaining are close to ready. Building new accessible playgrounds is part of the government’s priority to ensure students have positive learning and play spaces, no matter where they live."

Excerpt: "The Province is making it easier for families to apply and qualify for Nova Scotia’s child-care subsidy program. To help more families afford child care while balancing other financial priorities, eligibility criteria now hinge solely on family income and no longer consider assets like savings. Households with an annual income of $70,000 or less remain eligible and will now also be able to save for things like a down payment on a home while benefiting from the subsidy."

Excerpt: "The Early Learning Gateway parent portal allows parents and guardians seeking child care the ability to: Add their child or children to their profile; Search for regulated child care services; Add their child or children to a regulated child care service waitlist(s); Edit or remove their child or children from waitlists; The Early Learning Gateway service portal provides regulated child care service providers the ability to: View and manage the list of parents/guardians who added their child or children to the service waitlist in Early Learning Gateway; View parent/guardian contact information to follow up when a space becomes available; Create and manage Early Learning Gateway account access for their administrative staff."