Canada Moving Toward National ECE System

When the World Forum was being held in Montreal, Quebec last month, the Canadian delegation celebrated with us their news about funding developments in Canada. We asked Barbara Coyle, Executive Director of World Forum Alliance member Canadian Child Care Federation to update us on this exciting development and here is her report:

"Canada is ready to begin the serious work of building a pan-Canadian system of early learning and child care. This spring, five provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia), out of a total of 13 provinces and territories, signed bilateral early learning and child care agreements with the federal government. According to government officials, negotiations are underway with all of the other jurisdictions.

"While the details of the agreements differ from region to region, they all share the same framework -- one that includes a national vision for early learning and child care, principles, goals, areas for investment, action plans, and public reporting. The framework, built around the principles of quality, universally inclusive, accessible, and developmental, will guide the development of Canada's early learning and child care system.

"The federal government has promised that each jurisdiction that signs on will have its share of the $5-billion it has allocated for early learning and child care investments nationally.

"Each of the agreements includes a section on working together on knowledge and information. From a pan-Canadian perspective, the early learning and child care sector is particularly interested in accountability to ensure that the money transferred to provinces and territories is actually invested in building a high quality pan-Canadian system of early learning and child care that will demonstrate positive outcomes for all children."

Adapted from "Ready, Set, Go!," Interaction, volume 19, number 2, summer 2005. For more information, visit the CCCF website at www.cccf-fcsge.ca.