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Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development; Emis Akbari, Professor and Program Coordinator, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College | Senior Policy Fellow, Atkinson Centre, ��ݮ����Ƶ����/��ݮ����Ƶ����; Shelly Mehta, Professor and Program Coordinator, School of Early Childhood, George Brown College, at the 20th Annual Summer Institute: Shaping the ECE Workforce for Canada’s Future, April 26, 2024

The Conversation

Best Practices in ECE Development: In this series, early childhood officials from various provinces shared promising initiatives aimed at supporting the early childhood education workforce and expanding access to child care.

Promising Practices in Manitoba: Inclusive Programming and Ready-to-Move Child Care
Matthias Rust, Director, Strategic Policy and Intergovernmental Relations, Early Learning and Child Care Division, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning.

In Manitoba, every licensed childcare space is an inclusive space. All licensed childcare facilities must have a written inclusion policy and provide programming inclusive of children’s diverse needs. Various programs and initiatives support this requirement.

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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."

This is the 5th edition of the Early Childhood Education Report (ECER). Established in 2011, the report is released every three years to evaluate provincial/territorial early years services against a 15-point scale. Results are populated from detailed profiles of each province and territory. The ECER scale is organized around 5 categories with 21 benchmarks forming a common set of minimum criteria contributing to the delivery of quality programming. This report captures changes to early years services from March 2020 to March 2023. As such, it is able to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on service provision, as well as the funding and requirements of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements (CWELCC) at the half-way mark.

Associate Professor Jeffrey Ansloos has been selected as a delegate for the 2024 Science Meets Parliament program, to be held in Ottawa on May 6 and 7.

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."

Congratulations to Dr. Chloe Hamza on the Early Researcher Award!

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Excerpt: "The Manitoba Prenatal Benefit is a monthly financial benefit to help low-income Manitobans meet their needs during pregnancy. This historic increase will make Manitoba’s benefit the highest in Canada. The current maximum benefit is $81.41 per month, payable from the 14th week of pregnancy until the child is born. Budget 2024 includes an additional $800,000 to double the maximum monthly benefit to $162.82, ensuring the prenatal benefit has a real impact in making life more affordable for expectant parents, noted the minister."

Excerpt: "There are currently 2,206 early learning and child care spaces in various stages of development throughout the province, with timelines for operation ranging from one to 24 months. Close to 750 spaces currently in development have received funding through the Child Care Capacity Initiative announced this past fall. A regional breakdown of spaces in development is as follows, with a full list of current capacity projects outlined in the backgrounder: Metro St. John’s: 1,191; Central: 465; Western: 465; Labrador: 85."