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Excerpt: "But more families need access to affordable child care. That’s why, today in Whitehorse, the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, joined the Honourable Jeanie McLean, Yukon’s Minister of Education and Minister responsible for the Women and Gender Equity Directorate, to announce $10.5 million over four years, with $7.7 million through 2025–2026, to help build more inclusive child care spaces across the Yukon through the Government of Canada’s $625-million Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. The Yukon has already far exceeded the shared goal of building 110 new child care spaces by 2026, and this investment will further help the territory. Through this Fund, all provinces and territories will be able to make further investments in child care, so more families can save up to $14,300 on child care every year, per child. These investments will aim to support families in rural and remote communities, as well as families in communities that face barriers to access, such as racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers, official language minority communities, and children, parents and employees with disabilities. Funding may also be used to support infrastructure to provide care during non-standard hours."

Excerpt: "Penticton children and their families are benefiting from 34 new before- and after-school child care spaces at the Leapin Lizard’s Daycare Centre located on the grounds of Columbia Elementary school. “Finding access to affordable, quality and inclusive child care can be extremely stressful for families,” said Mitzi Dean, Minister of State for Child Care. “Investments like these are life-changing for everyone. These new child care spaces will serve the Penticton community well and our government looks forward to creating more positive changes for families in the coming months and years.” The Province partnered with Okanagan Skaha School District (SD67) to build the additional child care spaces with approximately $2.25 million from the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund. The funding supported the building, as well as the purchase of accessible playground equipment."

Excerpt: "Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) will add more spaces to its child study centre in Halifax and expand the age groups it serves with funding support from the provincial and federal governments. This will help meet the need for child care in the community and enhance the education and professional development of aspiring early childhood educators in the university’s child and youth study program, while offering research opportunities in the field. “We are pleased to support the expansion of MSVU’s child-care facility. Families need greater access to reliable and affordable child care, and we need more professionals to provide that care,” said Becky Druhan, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. “We’re proud of the work MSVU is doing to help meet the needs of families in the community.” The larger facility will add an additional 82 spaces and introduce up to 32 infant spaces. Parents who are on the existing wait list will be given priority."

Excerpt: "Manitoba’s early learning and child-care wage grid sets recommended starting-point and target wages for various positions within the early learning and child-care sector. The province provides facilities with a wage grid supplement. This additional funding helps facilities increase wages to meet the wage grid levels. Funding for wages in 2024-25 will increase by 2.75 per cent beginning July 1 for a total additional funding contribution of $10.9 million: $10.3 million from the government of Canada and $600,000 from the Manitoba government."

Excerpt: "Whereas Nova Scotia indicates that since signing the agreement, there have been challenges expending its 2022 to 2023 allocation due to diverse implementation challenges. Whereas the parties agree to increase in fiscal year 2022 to 2023, Nova Scotia's carry forward allowance from 30% to 63% for 2022 to 2023 into 2023 to 2024. Now therefore, the parties agree to amend the agreement, as follows: section 4 is amended by replacing article 4.6.2 with the following: "4.6.2 In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, at the request of Nova Scotia, and subject to the approval of Canada's Treasury Board by the federal Minister, Nova Scotia may retain and carry forward to the following fiscal year any unexpended funds remaining from Nova Scotia's annual funding payable under section 4.2, up to a maximum of 63% of the contribution payable. Any unexpended funds in excess of 63% of the contribution payable represents an overpayment subject to section 4.7.""

Excerpt: "Families in Hammonds Plains will see more early learning and child-care spaces opening in their community this summer. It Takes a Village Child Care Centre on Parkland Drive in Halifax is opening a second location at 1432 Hammonds Plains Rd. The new centre is expected to create about 75 new child-care spaces for toddlers and preschool-aged children. “Nova Scotians have told us they need better access to child care, and that’s exactly what we are providing,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Becky Druhan. “These new spaces are part of our updated expansion plan to increase access to child care across the province.” This is the first project approved under the Province’s new Minor Infrastructure Program for New Early Learning and Child Care Space Creation that offers funding to licensed not-for-profit child-care providers to quickly renovate and expand."

Excerpt: "Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House to highlight our government’s efforts to improve access to early learning and child care in the province. These efforts have been recognized in a recent report by the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, which ranks Newfoundland and Labrador fourth in the country amongst all provinces and territories when comparing governance, funding, access, the early learning environment, and accountability. Speaker, our government has been listening and responding to the needs of families, service providers, and the early learning workforce. We have implemented recruitment and retention initiatives for early childhood educators; we have provided incentives and funding to increase the number of early learning and child care spaces; and we are continuing to ensure that regulated child care is high quality, affordable and inclusive."

Excerpt: "The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development will partner with the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick to provide training to 400 early childhood educators over the next four years. Beginning this fall, 100 of them in the anglophone sector will be invited to participate in a training program entitled Talk, Sing, Read Everyone, Everywhere! The training includes coaching and mentoring so that early childhood educators can feel confident about their skills."

Excerpt: "Cellphones and mobile device restrictions in schools: Every school will have uniform policy to have cellphones on silent and removed from sight at the beginning of instructional time – the new default unless explicitly directed by the educator; If students do not comply, cellphones are immediately surrendered where there is no explicit allowance from the educator; For students in kindergarten to Grade 6, there will be a cellphone restriction for the entire school day, but they may be used with permission from the educator; A strengthened personal mobile devices policy with clear responsibilities broken down amongst staff and a requirement for best practices to be developed and shared with staff; Social media sites will be banned on all school networks and devices; Requirement that educators and staff model behaviour and not use personal mobile devices during class for non-work related reasons; New ban on sharing and recording videos or photos of individuals without explicit consent; $500,000 for digital literacy supports for students during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years."

Excerpt: "New Brunswick has ranked first in a report on early childhood education released by the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. “Our province is committed to providing quality early learning and child-care services to New Brunswick families, and the results of this report show how far we have come,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Bill Hogan. “Those who work in the early learning sector are shaping the adults of tomorrow, and they are supporting families who are at work and studying. They work incredibly hard every day and we deeply appreciate the work they do in laying the foundation for our youngest learners.”"

Excerpt: "Manitoba will shift the focus on affordable and accessible child care spaces developed under the Bilateral Agreement in previous years over to the Canada-wide ELCC Agreement as part of the long-term vision for affordable and accessible child care in Manitoba. This shift in operating funding for affordable and accessible child care spaces previously developed under the Bilateral Agreement to the Canada-wide ELCC Agreement allows for greater stability and long-term sustainability of developing affordable, accessible, flexible child care options. By offsetting costs from the smaller Bilateral Agreement to the long-term vision of the Canada-wide ELCC Agreement, there is freedom to develop new initiatives and models, and to be more responsive to the ideas and requests from the ELCC sector, key stakeholders and sector advocates, including members of the Minister’s Consultation Table."

Excerpt: "A community hub with child-care facilities is being integrated into the design of the new kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school in the north end of Saint John. “Schools no longer serve strictly as places of learning, but often become the heart of the community,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Bill Hogan. “A hub of this kind will not only provide a space for children to continue developing their skills outside of school hours, but will have a positive impact on the community it serves for years to come.” The community hub is a pilot project that will include a dedicated, licensed early learning hub for children up to four years old, as well as spaces for school-aged children, a multi-purpose room and a community office."