News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Following recommendations resulting from investigations into the finances of four school boards, the Ontario government is appointing supervisors to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB). These supervisors will address concerns regarding growing deficits, depleting reserves and ongoing cases of mismanagement. As part of its plan to protect Ontario and ensure students are prepared for the jobs of tomorrow, these actions will help the province restore sound financial management at these school boards and ensure that every dollar invested is preparing students with practical skills for good-paying, stable careers."

Excerpt: "The early learning and child care infrastructure investment will support the creation of new child care spaces when and where families need it. This will be done by ensuring that the allocation of the early learning and child care infrastructure funding prioritize diverse NWT community settings and those that are in higher need of child care. Additional interrelated priorities include: communities where families face barriers to accessing licensed child care programs; communities where there are no existing early learning and child care facilities, especially for children birth to age 3; access and inclusion for families who identify as vulnerable, equity seeking, and those with children with developmental needs. This priority includes existing facilities that require infrastructure updates to meet the demands of children with developmental needs."

Excerpt: "The Government of Northwest Territories is committed to supporting an early learning and child care system that provides children and families with access to high-quality early learning and child care across the Northwest Territories. The 2030 Early Learning and Child Care Strategy and the Canada – Northwest Territories Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement provides the Government of the Northwest Territories with goals for improving the quality, affordability, accessibility and inclusivity of early learning and child care in the Northwest Territories and shares the long-term vision for a Canada-wide early learning child care system as set out in the Government of Canada’s Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework and Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework. Like the rest of Canada, families in the Northwest Territories face challenges in finding child care spaces for their children. For instance, as of February 2024, there were 14 communities in the territory without licensed early learning and child care. To help address the shortage of child care spaces, in May 2024, the Government of Canada and Government of the Northwest Territories announced that the territory would receive approximately $10 million over the next four years. In addition, the Government of the Northwest Territories invests $1,000,000 annually in infrastructure projects through the Early Learning and Childhood Infrastructure Fund."

Excerpt: "Families in Antigonish County will have more access to francophone early learning and child care with a new centre operated by the Centre d'appui à la petite enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse. “The demand for child-care spaces in Antigonish continues to grow,” said Brendan Maguire, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. “This expansion responds to long-standing challenges faced by local families, who have had limited access to francophone child care in their community.”"

Excerpt: "Families in the Lake Charlotte area of Halifax Regional Municipality are getting improved access to child care. The Province is providing about $1.9 million to support the creation of 72 new child-care spaces at a new centre that will be operated by the YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth."

Excerpt: "The Ontario government is investing $55.8 million to expand teaching training seats at universities across the province to strengthen the teaching workforce and ensure Ontario has the teachers it needs in underserved and remote communities. This investment will train up to 2,600 new teachers by 2027, building a robust workforce of English and French-language teachers for Ontario’s classrooms. To support the government’s plan to protect Ontario by helping train students for successful careers and good-paying, in-demand jobs, the funding will be prioritized to support underserved communities as well as programs that will help students gain practical skills."

Excerpt: "The Province is providing $2.5 million to the Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education to purchase and expand the Stepping Stone Preschool and Childcare Centre. The college is adding 42 new spaces for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, and they are expected to be available next spring."

Excerpt: "The Northwest Territories (NWT) Early Learning Framework has been inspired and adapted, with permission, from British Columbia's Early Learning Framework (2019), which aligns with our vision of supporting a child-centred, culturally responsive, and inclusive approach to early learning and child care. In addition, early learning frameworks across Canada and other countries were reviewed and guided our work, particularly: New Brunswick Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Child Care (2008); Capable, Confident, and Curious: Nova Scotia’s Early Learning Curriculum Framework (2018); Nunavut Early Learning and Child Care Quality Framework (2023); How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years (2014); Flight Alberta’s Early Learning and Care Framework (2014); Belonging, Being & Becoming The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (2022); Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa New Zealand's Early Learning Curriculum (2017). While these documents provide a foundation, the NWT Early Learning Framework (framework) is meant to reflect the unique needs, values and cultures of educators, children, families, and communities of the NWT. The framework is meant to build on the valuable work already established in supporting the care and teaching of young children in the NWT, while intending to leave space for future direction."

Excerpt: "June 4, 2025, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) released the first edition of the Early Learning Framework. The Early Learning Framework is a resource for educators in early learning and child care programs to support them in their work. The framework reflects the vision and values outlined in the 2030 Early Learning and Child Care Strategy. It is intended to build on the valuable work already established in supporting the care and teaching of young children across the NWT, while also leaving space for future growth and direction. The first edition of the framework is designed to support a shared understanding for creating positive and nurturing early years experiences for children. It offers a common language to inspire meaningful communication between children, families, broader community, educators, and other early years services. It does not suggest a one-size-fits-all model for early learning and child care. Instead, it presents a set of broad principles centered on supporting the diverse needs of children, families, programs, and communities."

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."