This study, the third in a series beginning in 2014, reveals the most and least expensive cities for child care in Canada. The study provides an annual snapshot of median parental child care fees in Canada’s biggest 28 cities for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. It finds that wait lists are common for regulated child care, which is more expensive than it was two years ago, with fees rising an average of over 8% since 2014—three times faster than inflation.
Children and youth
It is disturbing but not surprising that, despite some initiatives in a number of provinces, child care across Canada remains unaffordable, unavailable and inconsistent in quality to this day. Federal leadership, together with provincial/territorial collaboration in working toward a long-term vision of a universal, high-quality, comprehensive early childhood education and care (ECEC) system, is demonstrably the best way to ensure real early learning and child care options for families.
“ the social and economic conditions that render children vulnerable to abuse and neglect are well beyond the scope of the child welfare system” (Hon. Ted Hughes, Commissioner, The Legacy of Phoenix Sinclair: Achieving the Best for All Our Children).
Phoenix Sinclair spent much of her young life in and out of the care of Child and Family Services. She died at the hands of her parents in 2005.
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HALIFAX—While there was a slight decrease in child poverty nationally between 2013 and 2014, the child poverty rate in Nova Scotia remains stubbornly high, says the 2016 Nova Scotia Child and Family Poverty Report Card, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS), in partnership with Campaign 2000.
This year’s Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia finds that while there was a slight decrease in child poverty nationally between 2013 and 2014, the child poverty rate in Nova Scotia remains stubbornly high. According to the report card, Nova Scotia’s child poverty rate (22.5%) represents 37,450 children—or more than 1 in 5 children—living in poverty in 2014. Nova Scotia now has the third-highest provincial child poverty rate, and the highest rate in Atlantic Canada.
Children need to feel and see they are important members of their communities and treated as such. A new study out Tuesday finds that Manitoba has the highest number of on-reserve First Nations children in poverty in the country at 76 per cent and the highest indigenous children in poverty off-reserve at 39 per cent. This number is rising and the situation is getting worse. There is no excuse for this in a wealthy country like Canada — this is a state of emergency.
Childcare is a surprisingly important election issue. It figured prominently in the 2015 federal election, and is playing a role in the 2016 Manitoba provincial election. Why does childcare warrant such political and public attention? The answer lies with demographics, care deficits, federal cutbacks and, most importantly, political choices.
The province has invested widely in community development and “place-based” approaches to renewal and poverty reduction, with many positive results. Place-based approaches such as these are now being adopted in communities across the country as research shows that residents overwhelmed by poverty need complementary supports and resources close to home. Innovative, grassroots, community-led initiatives make a difference and are a wise public investment. Take the West Broadway neighbourhood as an example.
The Winter 2016 issue of Our Schools/Our Selves offers a thoughtful and multifaceted collection on the subject of Oral History (the process of recording, preserving, and disseminating our understandings of the past through life narratives), education, political engagement, and youth.