Ottawa Citizen, 05.04.2014

The city has no plan to spend the $3.6 million it has collected through development charges to build new childcare spaces, even though many Ottawa families wait for months to secure a spot in a licensed centre.

The money has been accumulating since 2009 and can only be spent on childcare centres owned or operated by the city. But because such a venture is not on the horizon, the city has decided to sit on the cash and is also proposing in its updated development charges bylaw to pause any further collection.
That’s a big mistake, says the former head of the department that oversees childcare.

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Early childhood classrooms serve as the physical environment for adults and young children for most of their waking hours. Although it is important for classrooms to be attractive to the eye, it is equally, if not more important, that they function effectively.

Your childcare environment influences how you feel about yourself and your job, and how you as an early childhood professional relate to the children in your care. The children in your care experience the environment indirectly though interactions with you, and directly through their own experience with the physical setting.

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By Jennifer Bowman, Bracebridge Examiner

Daycares are changing how they operate and who they serve now that full-day kindergarten has taken their most profitable clientele, those aged 3.8 years and older. The last round of schools to implement full-day kindergarten will open their new classrooms this fall, landing the final blow to some daycares.

Child care should be a public good to benefit all, not a business whose goals may have little to do with serving children, families and community.

Brief submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance pre-budget consultation by the Childcare Resource and Research Unit argues that "a real national childcare program would be both the smart thing and the right thing to do for Canada".

Aboriginal youth face a fate that should horrify Canadians and there’s an obvious fix

Ending the cycle of poverty and violence among Aboriginal youth can seem like an impossibly daunting endeavour. After decades of negotiations, commissions and protests, including last year’s Idle No More movement and Ottawa’s recent unsuccessful attempt to reform First Nations education funding, Aboriginal children continue to face a fate that should horrify most Canadians.

Macleans Magazine, Tamsin McMahon - July 14, 2014

A growing number of Canadian grandparents are caregivers of their grandchildren. And most of these caregivers are single females with limited incomes.  Toronto Star, Aug. 3, 2014

In the last generation, adults have been consumed with protecting kids against all odds.  

But now, some child injury prevention experts are warning too much bubble wrap may be thwarting healthy development.  Toronto Star - July 29, 2014

In this issue:

• AECEO Position Paper on Professional Learning for RECEs
• Teaching on the Other Side of the World
• AECEO Certification
• Outdoor Natural Spaces for Learning Inspiration for RECEs
• Endeavours to Enhance the Lives of Children with Autism through Nature Based Learning
• Early Childhood Leadership Program
• Addressing ECE Student Needs

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A survey by People for Education has found major gaps in the delivery of before- and after-school programs for young students — despite this being a key part of the province’s full-day kindergarten plan.  Toronto Star June 23, 2014

The government of Ontario announced the release of new legislation that addresses the modernization of child care.  

valued family support, assessment service should stay with Andrew Fleck

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 27, 2014) - Despite a $4 million provincial funding infusion for Ottawa child care services, parents and child care staff throughout the city are flummoxed as to why the City of Ottawa is ending community provision of a valued assessment and referral service that fielded over 11,500 calls from parents in 2013.

The Ontario election is scheduled for June 12th, 2014. CRRU has selected materials from the political parties, NGOs and news media to explain how ECEC is positioned in this election campaign. We will continue to update this page as new developments occur. Materials are listed from the most recent to the least recent.

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In a provincial election that is understandably focused on jobs and the economy, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath deserves credit for shining a spotlight on a vital service that helps society thrive: a safe and sustainable child care system. Such a system doesn't exist in Ontario now.

Where is the child care in Ontario leaders’ jobs plan, parents and advocates ask.

May 14, 2014

The Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario, Canadian Union of Public Employees (Ontario), Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, Childcare Resource and Research Unit and Advocates for Progressive Child Care Policy are calling on the leaders of Ontario's three main political parties to respond to concerns about the state of early childhood education and child care by committing, if elected, to six key elements toward a strategy that will begin to fix early childhood education and child care in Ontario.

Open Letter to the leaders of Ontario's three main political parties

Parents, activists to issue "report card" for party leaders before June 12 vote

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 20, 2014) - Years of starts, shifts and cuts, add up to inadequate public funding and ineffectual provincial policy by successive governments. It's time for this situation to end, say a group of parents, early childhood educators and activists who, this election are challenging party leaders to "make the grade on child care".