CTV News and Current Affairs
Guests: Sharon Gregson, Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and Kate Tennier, Founder, Advocates for Child Care Choice.

THOMSON: It’s been a hotly debated topic in the halls of Parliament and of course across the country. What is the future of child care? A new report from Statistics Canada shows that more and more parents are sending their children to daycare. Should the government give parents a yearly cheque? Or should the money go to national and provincial daycare programs?

We debate that issue with Sharon Gregson, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia. She’s in Vancouver this morning. And here in Toronto, Kate Tennier of Advocates for Child Care Choice.

Good morning to both of you, and thanks for coming in…

THOMSON: Let me begin with you, Kate. An editorial that you wrote, or an item that you wrote in the Globe and Mail saying: “Affordable, high-quality, universal child care is bad for kids and bad for the economy.”

KATE TENNIER: Yeah. It’s a complicated piece. I want to focus on the survey. The interesting news is that child care has actually plateaued. When you compare it to 1994, it looks like it’s gone up. But we’ve all been working from the premise that it was 53 percent of children in child care. That was the 2001 statistic. So, the headline should be reading that over the course of two years when daycare has increased in Quebec we’ve only gone up one percent. So, the rest of Canada has actually plateaued for the first time since these statistics have been kept, and actually gone down in some areas. So, that just short of shows the spin that we’re always trying to — and we’re a grassroots group, we’re not funded, we’re volunteer —

THOMSON: Right, so statistics aside, do you think $1200 is a good start?

KATE TENNIER: Well, it sets the right principle. And that’s what we’re saying. Because over — and that didn’t include 10 percent of children whose parents are on social assistance. Over half of Canada’s children are cared for by their parents. And we don’t think that, but that’s the truth. And the rest of the half that is in some form of child care averages actually only 27 hours a week. So, there’s only a small minority of children who are in full-time care, a small minority that are in daycare centres. You couldn’t have the Liberal daycare deal stand, because it would discriminate against the majority of Canadian parents.

THOMSON: Let me bring Sharon in on this to respond…

SHARON GREGSON: Well, I have to say to Kate — and all parents who are listening will know this — that just because we use child care, whether it’s a daycare centre or a family day home, we’re still caring for our kids. So, to say that some children are not being cared for by their parents because they use child care is completely wrong. It’s no surprise to me to know that numbers are going up. I work in child care, I’m a working mother —

KATE TENNIER: They’re not going up.

SHARON GREGSON: The numbers are going up. I’m a person who works in the field. I have long waiting lists. I talk to women every day who are beside themselves because they cannot find daycare, they cannot afford daycare, they want good quality for the kids while they work. Let’s talk about the real Canadian reality for working women and for families. We need quality, we need more child-care spaces in this country. And that’s —

THOMSON: But do we need a national [overtalk] — Sharon, do we need a national program, though? And I guess that’s at the centre of this debate.

SHARON GREGSON: Absolutely no doubt. And, Kate, I do disagree with you. The $1200 is not the right premise to be starting from. It doesn’t create more choice for parents at all. When Harris tried it in Ontario his tax-credit scheme didn’t create one new space. It won’t happen in Canada. We need an investment in creating a system. And Harper’s plan is an income-support plan, it’s not a child-care choice allowance by any stretch of the imagination.

THOMSON: But, Kate, when you take a look at the Throne Speech and one of the sentences in there that the Governor-General read was that looking at collaboration between the provinces, seemingly opening the doors [overtalk] — Hold on, hold on, Sharon. Yeah, seeming to open the door to the possibility of an additional program.

KATE TENNIER: What that is is part of their plan to help build daycare spaces. Again, only a small minority of Canadians want daycare spaces.

SHARON GREGSON: Not true, Kate, not true.

KATE TENNIER: Can I continue?

THOMSON: Yeah.

KATE TENNIER: That’s a bottom-up, coming from the community, nonprofit, and other organizations. And that’s fine, because that’s not a government-imposed system. I can’t reiterate strongly enough that the majority of Canadians are in, the majority is actually in full-time parental care. People have been led to believe otherwise. And the rest are in care only part-time. So, we would be discriminating against the vast majority of Canadian families with a national child-care program. So, so we cannot have that unjust social program inflicted on Canadians.

SHARON GREGSON: It’s not unjust at all. We’re talking about a continuum of services. Women who are staying at home full-time are still using part-time services, using preschool. We’re talking about a continuum of services that children can move in and out of that’s high-quality, early childhood development from the time their child is young as an infant until 12 years old. So, whether that’s a family place drop-in, a part-time preschool, full-time daycare in a centre or in a home. A continuum of services that meets the needs of families. We’re not talking about government-imposed institutional care. We’re talking about community-delivered services. We’re talking about the neighbourhood hub model where you know where your local elementary school is, you know where your local swimming pool is, you should also know where your local child-care services are…

North Vancouver City Council Meeting

Continuation of Federal/Provincial Child Care Agreements
Submitted by Councillor S.A. Schechter
Moved by Councillor Schechter, seconded by Councillor Keating

WHEREAS the Provincial Government’s February 14, 2006, Throne Speech noted that “the best way to assure our children lead healthy lives is to give them a strong start in life”;

WHEREAS the creation of a Provincial Childcare System as part of a National Childcare Program cannot be delayed because working families need this support for their children;

WHEREAS the government has been silent on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to cancel the National Childcare Program which would provide BC with $633 million over the next 5 years for regulated childcare for children under the age of 6; and

WHEREAS other provinces are insisting that Ottawa live up to the terms of the agreements they signed under the existing program;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of North Vancouver call on Premier Gordon Campbell and the Provincial Government to:

• Insist that Ottawa live up to its full five-year funding commitment under the existing childcare agreement;

• Release an action plan for childcare as set out in the agreement and promised by the Provincial Government last fall; and

• Use this money to move away from the current user fee childcare system to a publicly-funded childcare system that creates a quality, stable space for every child; is affordable for all; meets the needs of working and studying families; and provides caregivers with fair incomes and the respect they deserve.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Vancouver School Board

Vancouver School Board passes motion to write a letter to senior levels of government indicating that every effort should be made to ensure that Vancouver families have access to quality, affordable child care through the established national child care program.

NOTICE OF MOTION: (CHILD CARE)
Submitted by Trustee Sharon Gregson

WHEREAS the Board recognizes that every neighbourhood in Vancouver has children entering Kindergarten who are deemed to be vulnerable and that some neighbourhoods have as many as 60% of children vulnerable on one or more of the University of BC (UBC) early Development Indicator scales; and

WHEREAS the Board recognizes that quality child care (daycare/preschool) supports children’s early learning and school readiness, as well as parents in their parenting role; and

WHEREAS the current federal government is moving to replace the national child care plan with an income support plan that will not further the development of quality child care services in Vancouver,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Board of School Trustees of School District No. 39 (Vancouver) write a letter to senior levels of government indicating that every effort should be made to ensure that Vancouver families have access to quality, affordable child care through the established national child care program, and the aforementioned plan be continued.

EXCERPT from Hansard
[DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]

CHILD CARE FUNDING

D. Thorne: Since 2001 the B.C. government has cut $40 million from the provincial child care budget. Until today the federal government has picked up the slack, providing millions to the province for child care. In fact, B.C. had a five-year funding agreement with the feds worth $633 million for children under six, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper cancelled it. These federal dollars funded quality, affordable child care for B.C. families, and this government let that money slip away.

To the Minister of State for Childcare: what will you do now to fill the financial gap created by the cancellation of the federal government child care program? Will your government reinvest in child care for British Columbia families, or will you abandon it?

Hon. L. Reid: Our vision for child care remains clear. B.C. children will enter school better prepared to learn, better prepared to succeed. B.C. families will have access to quality child care. Families will have access to a range of services in British Columbia — early learning programs, services that we’re going to deliver in concert with the Ministry of Education. Children with special needs will be better supported to learn as they go forward in community.

Children will be cared for by qualified early child care providers. We are working in partnership with the sector. B.C. families will have access to community hubs where a range of services will be provided.

That is the British Columbia vision for child care. We will continue to deliver on that vision for child care, because it’s vitally important that we have the strongest possible start in this province for British Columbia families. That work is underway. That work will continue.

Vancouver City Council approved the following motion on March 2, 2006

Agenda item # 4

WHEREAS:

1. The City of Vancouver has a long tradition of providing leadership in the development and support of licensed, non-profit child care.
2. The previous federal government committed almost $5 billion over 5 years to establish a national child care program, of which $633 million was to come to BC.
3. The current federal government promised to rip up these agreements in March of 2007.
4. The current federal government is replacing the national child care plan with individual payments to families with children that are in fact taxable family bonuses and will do nothing to further develop a national child care program.
5. The suggested bonus of $1200 a year will cover just over one months cost for children under 18 months.
6. There is a lack of facilities for younger children, including those with parents who can afford to pay for child care.
7. The provincial government has been slow to raise opposition to this plan, despite very public concern expressed by other provinces, families and the child care community.

Therefore be it resolved:

1. THAT Council acknowledge that the primary responsibility for funding and administering comprehensive child care programs rests with senior levels of government.
2. THAT Council affirm its commitment to work cooperatively and in partnership with the provincial and federal government to ensure we meet the city’s overall targets for developing new child care spaces.
3. THAT Mayor and Council write a letter to senior levels of government indicating that every effort should be made to ensure Vancouver families have access to affordable and accessible child care through the established national child care program, and support for continuation of the aforementioned program.

On Friday, February 24, 2006, the federal Conservative government announced it has formally notified the provinces it will terminate the federal-provincial child-care agreements.

According to the Conservative federal finance minister, Mr. Flaherty, the Conservative government “has a mandate to scrap the $5-billion in child-care deals with the provinces and replace them with a program that gives parents $1,200 for each child under age six, along with $250-million in tax credits to provide new spaces.”

Highlights of the BC Budget

Finance Minister Carole Taylor has introduced a budget that restores spending for the Ministry of Children and Family Development that was cut four years ago. Taylor says the government will spend $421 million over the next four years to improve child protection services.

BUDGET COMMENTS:

Ask the Experts: Officials from unions and business react to the provincial budget
The Vancouver Sun, 22 Feb 2006
EXCERPT

…. JIM SINCLAIR, PRESIDENT OF THE B.C. FEDERATION OF LABOUR:
“Like a lot of British Columbians, we were looking at this budget to see how it would help us. I think it is fair to say that if you live in Point Grey and you own your own house and you send your kids to private school and you want to own a Mercedes-Benz and you own mining shares, you’re doing well in this budget. If you live in Kamloops and you’re struggling to make ends meet and your kids are in the public system and you want to send them off to college and you want a space in a childcare centre, it’s not a good budget for you.” …

GEORGE HEYMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE B.C. GOVERNMENT AND SERVICE EMPLOYEES’ UNION
“The finance minister admitted today that she has no new money targeted for income assistance, when everybody knows that the single clearest determinant about the future of a kid’s development and their health and their ability to reach their full potential and be a productive member of society, is that they don’t live in poverty in their formative years. It is not the fault of children if their families are poor, and this minister simply doesn’t seem to get that.” …

SARAH MACINTYRE, B.C. DIRECTOR OF THE CANADIAN TAXPAYERS FEDERATION:
“Frankly, this government is headed in the wrong direction. Instead of trying to improve competitiveness of the tax system by simplifying, lowering and flattening tax rates, the province has taken a policy of particulars approach, handing out tax credits to specific industries, groups and leaving most taxpayers in the dust.”

—–

Jenny Kwan, NDP Opposition’s finance critic
Faceoff: Budget 2006: The Opposition: Liberals ignore the real challenges
The Vancouver Sun
22 Feb 2006
Editorial
EXCERPT

“The government did not put forward a coherent plan to address child-care demands or rising child poverty and homelessness rates. This budget still assumes Stephen Harper will fund the national child-care plan. We know that won’t happen, but there is no replacement.”

Government pledges $421m to help young people: Funds will go to programs for those with special needs, mental-health problems, disabilities and addictions
The Vancouver Sun
22 Feb 2006 [Page: A4 ]
Janet Steffenhagen
EXCERPT

…. The $36 million for special needs will include an expansion of the infant development program, which serves children from birth to three who have developmental delays, and more support services that allow special-needs children to be included in regular child care….

The full text of Feb 14, 2006 speech from the throne is available on the Legislative Assembly website

—–

CCCABC responds:

THRONE SPEECH BETRAYS BC CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

“Today’s Throne Speech is shockingly silent on action for child care,” says Susan Harney, Chair of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC. “Last September, the Premier signed a child care agreement with the federal government. He made a public commitment to improve access to quality child care in BC. Yet, six months later child care has fallen off the agenda.”

Download the CCCABC response

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Reid has high hopes for child care from Harper’s Conservatives: MLA under fire for not fighting for federal-provincial child-care agreement
Richmond News, 21 Feb 2006
Eve Edmonds
EXCERPT

Where is Linda Reid in the fight for child care?

That’s what Allison Lee, a child-care worker, expectant mother and resident of the MLA’s riding, wants to know.

And Lee is not the only one wondering.

Reid, Minister of State for Child Care, and her Liberal government are under attack from numerous child-care advocates for failing to fight for the maintenance of a federal-provincial child-care agreement which was signed in September.

The agreement would have seen B.C. receive more than $600 million in child care funding over five years.

“(The) Throne Speech is shockingly silent on action for child care,” said Susan Harney, chair of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C.

“Last September, the premier signed a child-care agreement with the federal government. He made a public commitment to improve access to quality child care in B.C. Yet, six months later child care has fallen off the agenda.”

The first year has already been paid out and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has recently agreed to honour the second year of the Liberal agreement.

However, there is no commitment to the full five years. Critics say Reid and Premier Gordon Campbell should be fighting for it.

The vice-chair of the government’s own Provincial Child Care Council (an advisory group to Reid), Heather Northrup, even resigned over the Liberals’ lack of action.

In particular, child-care advocates are asking why the Jan. 31 deadline for producing a provincial child-care strategy has come and gone with still no plan.

That’s because that deadline was on the heels of the Jan. 23 federal election, says Reid.

“There was no one to send any information to at the end of January.”

Diane Tannahill, president of the Early Childhood Educators of B.C., says, “this was a federal agreement, not just a Liberal agreement,” and it shouldn’t matter who is in power.

She also notes that Quebec and Ontario are not letting the federal government off the hook despite a change in leadership.

“Those provinces were further along in the negotiations than we were. They had financial backing, we had a memorandum of understanding,” counters Reid.

Reid adds that Harper has made a significant compromise by agreeing to honour the second year of the plan, considering he campaigned on scrapping the agreement altogether…

But Harper’s willingness to go a second year speaks to a government that is prepared to negotiate, says Reid.

“We are on the side of building long-term relationships. It is not just about an additional three years of funding,” she adds.

Reid says she supports both Harper’s plan of an allowance for parents of children under six as well as a national child-care strategy.

Most importantly, child care has anything but fallen off the table, she notes.

“I’m a fierce and ardent supporter of a long-term child-care strategy,” says Reid…

Raise the Rates – Carnegie Community Action Project

Here’s how advocates can get involved: The provincial budget is coming in February 2006 and the Minister of Employment and Income Assistance, Claude Richmond, says that welfare rates are under review.

TAKE ACTION:

Write a hand-written letter to Claude Richmond, Minister of Employment and Income Assistance urging higher rates. If you want to ask for a specific amount you could use the amount SPARC BC recommends for meeting minimum monthly living costs:
– $1233 for a single person, and
– $1824 for a single parent with one child.

Or, you could ask for a 40% increase as the Save Low Income Housing Coalition has.

MLA Claude Richmond’s address is
PO Box 9058 STN PROV GOVT,
Victoria, BC V8W 9E1

CC your letter to NDP MLA and critic, Claire Trevena

More info available from: Jean Swanson, Carnegie Community Action Project

NEWS Article: Time to Up Welfare Payments (The Tyee)

Download the factsheet: Welfare Rates Need To Be Raised

CP, Ottawa

Stephen Harper promises his government will get to work quickly to implement the promises he made during the campaign leading to his Conservative party’s minority election win.

He told a news conference that his first priority will be to clean up the government through his promised accountability act. …Harper’s cabinet will be sworn in Feb. 6.

—–

EXCERPT from text of prime minister-designate Stephen Harper’s statement at a news conference Thursday Jan 26, 2006:

On Jan. 23, Canadians voted for change and they asked our party to lead that change in the House of Commons. Today, I’d like to provide you with an update on how our plans to deliver that change to Canadians are unfolding.

As you can imagine, much of my time in the last two days has been spent addressing a number of issues related to the change of government. I’ve both spoken and met with her excellency the Governor General and accepted her offer to form the next government of Canada.

I’ve also spoken a number of times with the premiers and reiterated my sincere commitment to working with them to strengthen our federation. ….Over the days and weeks, the process of change will accelerate. On Monday, Feb. 6, her excellency the Governor General will swear in Canada’s new government. …. Our new government will act quickly to get down to work on delivering the change that Canadians voted for on Jan. 23. As you all know, we campaigned on a very clear set of priorities… And we’ll use our time in the new Parliament to pursue those priorities.

Our first priority will be to clean up government, make it more open and more accountable to taxpayers. We will do this by way of the federal accountability act…

Beyond the federal accountability act, we intend to move to implement our GST and other tax reductions, to toughen up our criminal justice system and to implement our child-care program. We’ll also commence negotiations with the provinces on the fiscal imbalance and on the introduction of a patient wait-times guarantee so that Canadians get the health care they’ve paid for….

There will be difficult situations; minority governments are never easy. But all parties recognize that Canadians have chosen the second minority Parliament in less than two years. They want us to get to work on delivering change….

BC NDP, Victoria

As the Conservatives prepare to take power in Ottawa, Gordon Campbell should be fighting to ensure that federal childcare dollars promised to B.C. continue to flow to the province, NDP Intergovernmental Relations critic Michael Sather said today.

“As the Conservatives transition into government, important decisions will be made about funding relationships with the provinces,” said Sather. “These decisions will have a dramatic impact on programs and services offered in B.C., including childcare. Gordon Campbell needs to stand up for the interests of ordinary British Columbians and fight for this funding.”

In September 2005, the federal government announced its Early Learning and Childcare Agreement with B.C., which provides $633 million dollars to the province for childcare and early childhood development over five years. The B.C. government must release its Childcare Action Plan by January 31, outlining how these funds are to be spent.

In the recent federal election, Stephen Harper said he would terminate childcare funding to the provinces after one year, and Sather argues that without strong leadership and advocacy by the B.C. Liberal government, these much-needed dollars will disappear.

“Gordon Campbell has stated that under a new Conservative government, he would continue to advocate for funding of key projects like the Pacific Gateway,” said Sather. “But he has fallen silent on other important programs, including the childcare agreement that sends millions flowing to B.C. annually.”

“In five short days, the Campbell government is scheduled to release B.C.’s Childcare Action Plan. Without swift action and advocacy by the Premier, millions of dollars will slip through our fingers — to the detriment of working families.”

Sather called on the Premier to use his close relationship with Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper to secure these funds and give B.C. children the best possible start in life.

“Gordon Campbell says that the lines of communication between himself and Stephen Harper are open. He needs to use them in the interests of working families that rely on quality, affordable and accessible childcare in B.C.,” Sather concluded.

BC Aboriginal Child Care Society recently hosted an information session on November 11th, at our Annual Conference.

During the slide show presentation many questions were raised. When the government’s “Guiding Principles” were discussed, BCACCS questioned why “Language and Culture” were not specifically identified.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights for the Child, article 30 states:
“In those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.”

The point was made, “Without our culture and language we are nothing”.

Based on the feedback from the delegates at a recent round table consultation, the key messages we want government to hear are:

In order to implement a new framework, it is necessary to have:

1. Adequate Funding – For the program design and integration process, and most importantly to ensure universal access to high quality culturally-responsive early learning and child care services, without regard to barriers of any kind, including geography, residence, affiliation or special need;
2. Culture and Language – Support for the integration of Culture and Language as the foundation of the Program;
3. Capacity, Authority and Jurisdiction – Recognition and support for First Nations capacity building, authority and jurisdiction.

When discussing the federal “QUAD” Principles, here are the main themes that arose:

1. First Nations determined: First Nations must be supported to define and implement their own QUAD Principles.
2. Reflective of the culture and geographic diversity in BC: Defined in the cultural context of BC First Nations, reflecting the cultural and geographic diversity that exists in the province.
3. Meet or exceed BC standards: First Nations QUAD Principles will meet or exceed standards established for the mainstream ELCC system.
4. Matched to program budgets: QUAD Principles need to match up to program budgets; because principles without funding/capacity to operationalize are meaningless.

Some of our Next Steps include:

1. Establishing collaborative arrangements between Government and First Nations.
2. Meaningful consultation and engagement with First Nations communities based on transparency and reciprocal accountability.
3. Timely provision of new funding to support effective First Nations participation in all subsequent phases of the program design and transition process.

According to information on the MCFD web site, “Throughout November, the provincial government is conducting a public consultation facilitated by the Ministries of Children and Family Development and Education.”

The info on the MCFD web site states that they are:
“… seeking input on government’s priorities for early learning and child care. The results of this consultation process will help create a detailed action plan for early learning and child care in BC, including spending decisions in years two to five of the [federal/provincial] Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.”

Click on to: http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/childcare/consult.htm

They say there are two ways to provide feedback:

– via an on-line feedback form

– via a community consultation session (eight “community consultation sessions” are listed but limited info about these sessions is available on line.)

And they note a third: if you wish to provide “written feedback and comments” you can send them to the Child Care policy Branch (see page 9 of their Consultation paper for the mailing address).

If you are interested in the Legislature’s Hansard transcript for Wednesday November 2 and what was said about the Child Care estimates, the “public consultation” etc. click on to http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/8-8.htm
Click on November 2 and scroll down until you see [Page 1570] and D. Thorne and Hon. L. Reid.

To: ‘Martin.P@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Dryden.K@parl.gc.ca’
Cc: ‘Godfrey.J@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Dosanjh.U@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Emerson.D@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Owen.S@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Fry.H@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Stronach.B@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Bradshaw.C@parl.gc.ca’; ‘Goodale.R@parl.gc.ca’; ‘jafferm@sen.parl.gc.ca’

Subject: British Columbia Parents Do Not Endorse Upcoming Federal / Provincial Child Care Agreement

It is with much regret that, as a BC parent, I write on behalf of Parents for Child Care (PFCC) to ask the government of Canada not to sign the much anticipated child care agreement with British Columbia. PFCC has grave concerns that, once again, BC will not use the federal funds to create regulated quality child care spaces and build a sustainable child care system.

BC parents have watched over the last few years as millions of federal tax dollars have flowed to BC for “early childhood development”. Given federal Liberal promises of a National Day Care Program – BC parents eagerly anticipated that the significant increase in funds for these programs in BC would result in significant improvements in BC’s Day Care system. Instead, much to our shock and surprise, child care centers have closed, staff turn over at existing child care centers has increased negatively affecting the quality of care, waiting lists have grown impossibly long and parent fees have skyrocketed beyond the reach of almost all BC families. Today in BC, even if parents can afford $1100 a month for one child care space, their child can never secure a space because the average waiting list time is over 2 years. Clearly, the monies under the first child care agreement were not used for child care, or if they were used, they were used with shocking ineffectiveness.

However, after the Federal Liberals re-affirmed their commitment to a National Day Care Program in the last election, and knowing that a new federal provincial child care agreement between BC and Canada is about to be signed, BC parents were re-assured that finally some tangible steps were going to be taken to address the critical state of child care in BC.

Imagine parents’ surprise when, on the verge of the signing of this new child care agreement pledging $600 million dollars to child care, BC Premier Gordon Campbell’s recent Mini Throne Speech, says nothing about child care! Instead the BC government talks about a provincial government pledge to “literacy and something that looks like school readiness – all seemingly lumped in with a vague promise of increasing access to early childhood development – but with no acknowledgment that high quality regulated accessible child care is the optimum means to deliver early childhood development and learning opportunities to BC’s youngest”. BC parents, still waiting for affordable regulated high quality child care, are now beginning to fear that, yet again, federal funds will be used, not for child care, but other programs under the guise of “early learning” under this new agreement. We do not dispute the worthiness of such programs. However, they are programs that should be funded not with federal child care dollars but by provincial dollars.

Canada needs the full participation of its skilled workforce to successfully compete in the global economy. For the first time in BC’s history almost 50% of BC’s workforce is comprised of women – women who need to know that their children are getting the best early learning opportunities in a regulated child care environment. A child care system that can meet these demands cannot be built overnight and it is increasingly clear in Conference Board of Canada and Stats Can studies that the pressure for more skilled workers in Canada is going to increase exponentially as each year passes. The amount of federal money pledged under the proposed child care agreement is not enough to build an entire child care system – we know that. It is however, a significant enough amount of money that, if spent prudently, can begin to seriously start laying the foundation for a sustainable quality child care system that can foster every BC child’s early development and learning.

Given the above, and when one considers the failure of past federal child care dollars to effectively address serious child care problems in BC, PFCC is demanding that every dollar spent under the proposed child care agreement go towards increasing the number of regulated quality child care spaces, reducing child care staff turnover, eliminating waitlists, reducing parent fees and ensuring that all BC kids who need it have access to a regulated quality child care space. How money is spent under the proposed child care agreement must recognize that regulated quality child care is the optimum early learning opportunity and that quality child care ensures kids are ready to learn when they reach school age. Parents and kids do not need a number of ad hoc literacy, parenting and “ready set learn” programs that purport to meet “early learning criteria” just so funds can be siphoned from the proposed agreement under a technical reading of a small subsection of that agreement. For years many programs like these have been funded by provincial ministries like Health and Education. Funding for those programs should remain with those provincial ministries. What BC families need today is a network of child care centers across the province with well trained staff open during hours that can accommodate the various needs of parents whether or not these parents are in the paid workforce, in school or at home. It is these programs, particularly those programs that can accommodate the needs of working families, that are desperately under funded, unaffordable, with long waiting lists and on the verge of having to close. It is these programs Canada needs to have in place to continue to compete effectively in the global economy.

Unless the government of BC commits every dollar under the proposed agreement to developing just this kind of child care system, and nothing else, PFCC is not confident that these federal tax dollars will be spent as intended. It seems clear, at present,that they are at grave risk of not being spent on anything that will go towards creating a sustainable quality child care system that will serve the needs of BC’s kids.

In summary, we ask that you seek this commitment from the government of BC. If BC is not prepared to provide this commitment, then we suggest that you find a level of government (municipal/city) that will commit to the national child care program that the Federal Liberals have been promising BC families for a long time but have not been able to deliver. Absent this commitment from BC, PFCC is very concerned that 5 years from now a younger generation of BC parents will be asking you the same questions about why $600 million in federal tax dollars has not gone towards reducing waitlists and parent fees, reducing child care staff turnover and increasing the number of regulated quality child care spaces. An outcome such as this is not consistent with the spirit and intent of the proposed child care agreement. An outcome like this would simply become evidence of yet another failed government program that could not deliver meaningful, concrete, measurable results and could not meet the well documented needs of BC kids and families for child care. Worse still will be the effect on BC’s most vulnerable kids. Without a regulated quality child care system that allows every child access to early learning opportunities, many parents will remain in the unimaginable position of going to work to keep a roof over their head and put food on the table while leaving their children in an unsafe and unstimulating child care arrangement.

We ask that you seriously consider this proposal and hope to hear from you prior to the signing of the proposed child care agreement with BC.

Signed: Parents for Child Care, British Columbia (“PFCC”)

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September 24, 2005

To: Prime Minister/Premier ministre
Cc: premier@gov.bc.ca ; stan.hagen.mla@leg.bc.ca ; Dryden.K@parl.gc.ca ; carole.james.mla@leg.bc.ca ; linda.reid.mla@leg.bc.ca ; diane.thorne.mla@leg.bc.ca

Subject: BC Parents Won’t Support the Federal/Provincial child care agreement unless BC commits the money to Child Care

Dear Prime Minister Martin:

I appeared before the standing committee on finance on behalf of Parents for Child Care, a few years ago to advocate for the federal government to start contributing federal tax dollars to child care. Your initiative this year is finally putting us on the road to that dream. One problem we had in the past was that the federal money that was being given as Early Childhood Development dollars to the province was being used for anything but child care. We believe that the Province of British Columbia is preparing to do the same thing with the federal child care money.

Parents of British Columbia were ecstatic by the promise of much needed child care money. Even the small amount of money that has already been allocated has been helpful despite the fact it was not part of a large “child care plan”. All the speeches from Stan Hagen and Linda Reid are brimming with promise around child care. Why then did the Throne Speech completely ignore child care and only mention literacy initiatives? Why is early learning and child care in separate ministries when they are in fact one and the same? If the Province of British Columbia thinks the parents of this province will support receiving $600 million for early learning and child care and that the creation of a universal child care system is not part of it, they have another thing coming.

I would rather see the Federal government keep the money than allow it again to be redirected into anything but child care. Child care is early learning and is the place the majority of BC’s children already are. I call on you to protect the dream of a national, universal daycare program and hold the province of British Columbia accountable for how they are planning to spend this money.

Sincerely
Necole Anderson, Parents For Child Care

Governments of Canada and British Columbia sign an Agreement on Early Learning and Child Care

NEWS RELEASE

Prime Minister Paul Martin and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, along with Social Development Minister Ken Dryden and Stan Hagen, British Columbia’s Minister of Children and Family Development, announced today an historic Agreement in Principle that further supports the development of quality early learning and child care (ELCC) for young children and their families in British Columbia….

The Agreement in Principle sets out a long-term vision, principles, and goals to guide the development of regulated early learning and child care for children under six. It also outlines specific objectives that the Government of British Columbia will pursue over the next five years and how that Government will be accountable to British Columbians.

Read the media release from CCCABC

Make Poverty History (MPH) is a global social movement dedicated to educating citizens about local and global poverty and mobilizing support to end poverty! Canada’s MPH campaign calls for urgent and meaningful policy change for:

• MORE AND BETTER AID.
• TRADE JUSTICE.
• CANCELLING THE DEBT.
• ENDING CHILD POVERTY IN CANADA.

How is Canada doing?

Sadly it is 15 years since the House of Commons unanimously resolved to eliminate child poverty in Canada. Yet:

• 1 in every 6 children lives in poverty in Canada: that’s over one million children.
• 45% of all Canada’s low-income children live in families where the parent(s) worked all year, yet still could not rise above the poverty line.
  (Campaign 2000)

ENDING CHILD POVERTY – The MPH call — Canada can take action!

We must continue to call on our governments to make key investments that will make a difference:

• “more money for low income families”
• “affordable housing and creation of decent jobs with a higher minimum wage” and
• “universal, affordable early learning and child care.”

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. You can “Click into ACTION” and send an e-mail to Prime Minister Martin and urge him to take action to make poverty history when world leaders meet in September.

2. You can MARCH WITH US on Sept 10th, the day the world’s most powerful nations are meeting at the historic United Nations General Assembly Special Summit on the Millennium Development Goals – If you are in the lower mainland, YOU CAN join the Coalition of Child Care Advocates, the Capilano College Students Union and the Global Stewardship Program, anti poverty activists, trade union members, faith groups and other concerned people from all walks of life in a MARCH TO BRIDGE THE POVERTY GAP.

WHERE: The march will begin at Peace Flame Park – Burrard and 1st Avenue and proceed to the Vancouver Art Gallery where there will be speakers, entertainment and exhibits (visit us at the CCCABC table).

WHEN: Meet us at 12 noon, under the Coalition of Child Care Advocates banner (we will assemble near Burrard and 1st). The march begins at 12:30.

The Early Childhood Education Articulation Committee recently sent the following letter and position paper to Premier Campbell, Minister Linda Reid, Minister Shirley Bond and Minister Stan Hagan, and Opposition Leader Carole James.

Hello Honourable Premier Campbell,

Re: Ministry designations: Ministry of State for Early Childhood Development and Ministry of State for Child Care

As instructors in Early Childhood Education from colleges and universities throughout the Province of British Columbia, we strongly urge you to reconsider the latest Cabinet assignments within the realm of early childhood responsibility. By creating cabinet posts that differentiate between early childhood development and childcare the government is contributing to what is becoming the public misperception that issues of early childhood development are somehow uniquely different from issues of childcare. We must warn you that such a misperception will not contribute to the healthy early development of all of British Columbia’s very young children! It will do the opposite by fragmenting funding, falsely differentiating early literacy programs from childcare and creating a dangerous stratification in the delivery of all programs of care and education for young children.

We have attached a position paper endorsed by more than 35 public and private training programs in early childhood education in British Columbia. It clearly identifies well known research principles that have guided our practice over the past fifty years and takes us to the place we are moving toward today – a place where all programs that care and educate young children will be of the highest quality, accessible and better supported financially by public dollars. It shares a vision that these programs be regarded and supported under one philosophical and fiscal structure.

Please take the time to read this paper and learn about the fine history of our field. It is a history filled with renowned researchers, hard working early childhood educators, an inclusive philosophy and extraordinary professionalism. We ask that you trust the work of the past, pay attention to our message that all programs of care and education of children fall under the same auspice, and create a more integrated ministerial approach to matters of early development.

Early Childhood Education Articulation Committee (alphabetical order by institution)
Kathy Gardener, Burnaby College, Early Childhood Education Program
Linda Leone, Camosun College Early Childhood Education Program
Jen Moses, Capilano College Early Childhood Education Programs
Kathy Price, Century College Early Childhood Education Program
Debbie MacNeil, College of New Caladonia Early Childhood Education Programs
Ildi Walkley, College of the Rockies Early Childhood Education Programs
Gwen Reese. Columbia Bible College Early Childhood Education Program
Phyllis McBeth, Delta Continuing Education
Carol Howorth, Douglas College Early Childhood Education Programs
Caroline Loughran, Montessori Training Centre
Susan Young, Langara College Early Childhood Education Programs
Sharon Crowley, Langley College Early Childhood Education Programs
Beverly Revin, Malaspina University College Early Childhood Education Programs
Beverly Reid, MTI College Early Childhood Education Program
Nedra McKay, Nicola Valley Institute of Technology
Marion Pickton, North Island Early Childhood Education Programs (Chair, ECE Articulation Committee)
Pat Mullar, North Shore Continuing Education
Kathy Handley, Northern Lights Early Childhood Development Programs
Joan Turecki, Northwest Community College Early Childhood Education Programs
Northwest Community College Early Childhood Education Programs
Barb Duffy, Okanagan University College Early Childhood Education Programs
Heather Kay and Jeanne Faith, Pacific Rim Early Childhood Institute
Gail Pirie, Ridge meadows College Early Childhood Education Programs
Toni Hoyland, Selkirk College Early Childhood Education Programs
Kathryn Mc Naughton, Thompson Rivers University, Faculty of Education
Gyda Chud, Vancouver Community College Early Childhood Education Programs
Leah Drayton, Vancouver Career College, Early Childhood Education Programs
Hillel Goelman, University of British Columbia, Faculty of Education
Helen MacDonald-Carlson, University College of the Caribou
Lou Schroeder, University College of Fraser Valley Early Childhood Education Program
Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria
Margie Mayfield, University of Victoria, Faculty of Education

Download the Position Paper (PDF) – “Take Back the Language: Appreciating the Culture of Early Childhood Education”

George Heyman and Shelagh Day presented the award to the Coalition, and Susan Harney accepted the award on behalf of the Coalition.

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Tribute by Shelagh Day

Let me start by thanking the BCGEU for inviting me to present this award. Alliances with the union are extremely important to community organizations. By giving this award you show that these alliances really matter to you too. Thank you for this.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here this afternoon to thank the Coalition of Child Care Advocates for their fantastic work.

Let us all acknowledge how hard it is these days to be an advocate for women and children and for struggling families. It has been a difficult decade, and in British Columbia, the last four years have been particularly tough ones. I cannot remember a government as consciously cruel to the most vulnerable people among us as this one has been. Nor can I remember a government that has displayed its disregard for women so openly – for women workers, for women on welfare, for women’s community organizations. Hopefully with an opposition 17 times larger in the legislature, the next four years will be brighter ones.

But during this decade, we have had to fight to hold on to our social programs – the building blocks of an egalitarian society. And to fight against having more people on the streets, more people without enough food, more kids without safe child care, more mothers scared and anxious, more families struggling, all while our economy booms.

Facing into the neoliberal tsunami, are we not lucky then, are we not deeply grateful that there are advocates like the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC who are steady, dogged, wise, clever, strategic, knowledgeable, and full of heart, who have worked tirelessly through all the strain and difficulties of this period on the central issue of getting a non-profit publicly funded child care system that is high quality, affordable, and accessible for all of us, in BC and nationally. We are lucky and we are grateful.

35 years ago the Royal Commission on the Status of Women called for a national child care program, with an act, national standards, and federal-provincial cost-sharing. If we are coming close now, in 2005, to having that national child care program, it is due to the determined, mostly unpaid work of women in the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and its affiliates across the country.

Child care is a pivotal social program for women, for children, and for men.

For women, we know why. Because high qualify affordable child care shifts some care-giving work from women’s shoulders and that permits us more freedom in our lives, more opportunity to work for pay, to go to school, to participate in public life. Thirty-five years ago the Royal Commission said: “For the government to fail to proceed with a national child-care program… would be to deny the claim that Canadian women have made for concrete assistance with bearing the burden of care-giving responsibility that they have been compelled to carry.” The federal government and provincial governments have failed women for years.

Child care is a pivotal program for children because we know how important their early years are and that care that provides them with stimulation, learning, and interaction with others is essential to their physical and mental development.

And it is a pivotal program for families because mothers and fathers need to be able to work or study knowing that their children are safe and well-looked after. For the working women and men of the BCGEU with young children, reliable high quality child care is essential to a decent life.

Child care is key to a fair society, that offers equality to women, and an intelligent and loving environment for children.

What an important contribution it is then – to all of us – that the Coalition of Child Care Advocates makes by working devotedly to get strong public support for, and government investment in, good child care.

We know how many long hours you have worked, how many conference calls you have endured, how carefully you have pored over government documents to figure out what the newest announcements really mean, how brilliant you have been at tracking the dollars, how quickly you have knocked out new fact sheets and budget submissions, how persistently you have stayed on top of all of the information, all of the government shifts, dodges, feints, offers, and withdrawals. And we have relied on you for your work, your advice, and your leadership.

I owe personal thanks to the Coalition’s members for teaching me about how child care works and does not work in BC, about operating grants and subsidies, about monies put in and monies taken out, about where the federal money vanished to, about what happened to child care for women on welfare. In answer to my questions, and my needs for information, I have been taught – with generosity and spirit and sophistication. And I know that other allies have been treated the same.

Isn’t it great to find a really good partner in your work? Isn’t it a joy to have someone to work with who works really hard, is completely reliable, knows what they are doing, and really cares? And that’s the Coalition of Child Care Advocates. A superb advocate and a superb partner for other advocates and for this union and its members.

To misquote the Barenaked Ladies: If I had a million dollars, I would not buy you a fur coat because that would be cruel. But if I had a million dollars, I would give it all to you to support your excellent work. I don’t have a million dollars and BCGEU doesn’t have a million dollars either. So we hope that you will accept a million thanks and this Spirit of Leadership Award – for working on child care which is so important to all of us, for doing it brilliantly and with passion, and for never, never, never giving up.

With your help, we will get the national high quality child care program that we all need and deserve. Thank you.

These agreemeents follow the Government of Canada’s February 2005 budget commitment to invest $5 billion over five years to “enhance and expand high-quality developmental early learning and child care in collaboration with provinces and territories”. As announced in previous federal-provincial-territorial meetings on ELCC, this initiative will be guided by the QUAD principles: quality, universal inclusiveness, accessibility, and development.