News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "The Government of Yukon has introduced the Integrated Outcome Strategy for Yukon Learners, a comprehensive 10-year strategy designed to help ensure that every Yukon student from Kindergarten to Grade 12 can achieve their best results. This strategy aims to close achievement gaps across the territory and reimagine the Yukon’s education system for the future. This strategy directly responds to the 2019 Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Yukon Legislative Assembly, Kindergarten through Grade 12 Education in Yukon, which recommended developing a structured approach to improving student outcomes. Guided by 10 values and four key paths, the strategy will introduce more coordinated and responsive approaches to meet students’ needs."

Excerpt: "The Department of Education is pleased to announce the launch of a new online early learning resources section on the Government of Nunavut website. This online section features a wide range of culturally and linguistically appropriate early learning resources already in use at licensed child care centres, now freely accessible to parents, caregivers, the public and community organizations. Several resources were developed in collaboration with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. This new resource section supports early learning at home and in the community, in line with the goals of the Nunavut Early Learning and Child Care Quality Framework. Resources include storybooks, audiobooks, teaching materials, videos, music and tools like the Move your Bodies! physical education video series that can provide fun at home, or skill-building resources such as the Early Learning Pre-Printing Skills Book for early Inuktut printing skills."

Excerpt: "Manitoba’s Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Wage Grid is designed to support licensed and funded child care facilities in offering accessible, quality child care by recognizing the valuable contributions of the early learning and child care workforce in helping children learn, grow, and develop to their fullest potential. The ELCC Wage Grid provides guidance to licensed and funded early learning and child care facilities in developing equitable and competitive salary scales across employee positions/classifications. As the legal entity and authority, the board of directors of a non-profit child care centre is responsible for establishing wages. In family and group child care homes that employ staff, the licence holder is responsible for establishing wages. This approach preserves the authority of boards and child care home licence holders, while ensuring consistent and better wages are provided to the early learning and child care workforce. The Target Hourly Wage is the expected amount to be paid to staff based on their position/classification. Funding provided through the Wage Grid Supplement must be used to help meet the new Target wages on the 2025/26 Wage Grid for all position/classification levels on a facility’s salary scale."

Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is increasing wages for early childhood educators (ECE), with funding from the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. The increase will be applied to all ECEs and is the biggest increase in Manitoba history, federal Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu and Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt announced today. “In order to provide families in Canada with high-quality, affordable child care, we need to support the early childhood education workforce with better compensation,” said Hajdu. “Development that happens in early childhood plays a big role in future learning, so it’s important to keep highly trained, qualified people in this field and also attract future educators who want to build safe and inclusive spaces where all children are welcomed, accepted, and nurtured.” The wage grid sets target wages for various positions within the early learning and child-care sector. This year’s wage grid focuses on frontline early childhood educators wages, for an increase of up to $5 an hour depending on certification level and the size of the child-care centre. The new wage grid will take effect retroactively to April 1."

Excerpt: "The government is continuing to address critical needs in growing areas of the province to provide students with modern learning spaces and help future generations learn. This is why Ontario is investing over $30 billion over the next 10 years, including approximately $23 billion in capital grants, to support new and redeveloped schools and child care projects. These investments will provide students with a foundation that will help set them up for success. In addition, as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to improve and modernize existing schools, Ontario is investing close to $2 billion for the 2025–26 school year to repair and maintain schools, which will foster safe, healthy, accessible and supportive learning environments."

Excerpt: "Licensed child-care providers can now apply for up to $5 million in new funding through the second intake of the Inclusive Spaces Program Grant. Applications are open until June 13, as part of the $15-million federal-provincial investment in the Inclusive Spaces Program Grant under the Canada-Alberta Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Investing in inclusive child-care spaces is essential to supporting Alberta’s growing population, strengthening workforce participation and ensuring all children have an accessible space in Alberta’s high-quality child-care system."

Excerpt: "The Province has appointed the Honourable David H. Jenkins, former Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island and Chief Justice of the Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal, to lead a third-party review of the policies, procedures, and processes of both the Public Schools Branch, la Commission scolaire de langue française, and the Department of Education and Early Years. Following serious incidents related to student safety, the third-party review aims to identify vulnerabilities in existing safeguards, recommend improvements, and propose new measures to better protect children in Island schools."

Excerpt: "The Early Learning and Child Care Act (2025) Bill No. 48 received assent today in the Yukon Legislative Assembly, marking a significant milestone in modernizing child care legislation in the territory. This new Act will replace an outdated law and align the Yukon’s early learning and child care system with best practices across Canada. Developed through extensive collaboration with early childhood educators, families, Yukon First Nations and stakeholders, the Act reflects the voices and concerns of Yukoners. It enshrines the principles of quality, accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring Yukon children and families receive the best possible care and support. For the first time, the Yukon’s early childhood educators and the process for their certification are officially recognized in law, highlighting their role as professionals. The new Act also ensures that licensed child care providers pay educators fair wages, with regulations outlining how they must be paid. This will help guarantee professional wages for professional educators, supporting high quality in early learning programs."

Excerpt: "This rewarding career allows educators the opportunity to form bonds with children while teaching them important life skills during their most formative years. [Learn about the} Role of an Early Childhood Educator; Work Requirements; Work-Life Balance as an Early Childhood Educator; Average Wage of ECEs."

Excerpt: "The Early Years Branch collaborated with the National Association of Regulatory Administration (NARA) in the United States to create and introduce differential monitoring, a system for monitoring and licensing child care facilities. The implementation of this new system, which includes the abbreviated checklist with key indicators and weighted risk indicators, commenced in the spring of 2021. As part of this collaboration with NARA, a quality assessment tool was developed: Saskatchewan's Early Learning and Child Care Quality Key Indicator Instrument (SK Quality Tool). The ministry is now implementing use of this new quality assessment tool. Participation in this differential monitoring approach to licensing and monitoring child care facilities is mandatory for all child care centres."

Excerpt: "The ELCC Workforce Enhancement Grant is a grant for regulated and operational child care centres and group family child care homes to support recruitment and retention of Assistants and qualified Early Childhood Educators (ECEs). New and existing facilities who hold a licence between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, are eligible. The grant is calculated at $145 per licenced child care space."

Excerpt: "Effective September 1, 2024, the ECE Wage Enhancement Grant will be increased for certified staff working in child care centres and certified assistants working in group family child care homes. The increased grant will provide up to an additional $1.00 per hour for ECE Level Is, IIs and IIIs. This increase builds upon previous ECE Wage Enhancement Grants announced in November 20211, October 2022 and October 2023."