WHEREAS although access to early child care and learning is used globally as a key measure of the economic and social health of society, the current supply of child care in British Columbia only serves about 14 of children age 0 to 12, on the low end in Canada which in turn is lower than any other OECD country, and directly related to a lack of adequate investment by the provincial and federal government in early care and learning; AND WHEREAS the 29 of children arriving to kindergarten in BC are developmentally vulnerable the majority of which now come from the middle class and are estimated by UBCs Human Early Learning project, in their report 15 by 15, A Comprehensive Policy Framework for Early Human Capital Investment in BC Funded by the BC Business Council to have negative and long term economic consequences estimated to be in the range of 20 per cent of foregone GDP growth: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM request that other orders of government make early care and learning a top priority by: - Creating strong legislative frameworks; - Significant new public investments to support the legislative frameworks; - Consolidating Early Care and Learning into the provincial Ministry of Education; and - Establishing an accountability framework that includes developmentally appropriate play-based learning in the early years and ensures positive outcomes for children.
Ministry of Education Creating strong legislative frameworks The Province is committed to supporting quality sustainable early child care and learning services to support parents to choose from a range of flexible programs in their communities. This includes looking for opportunities to be responsive to unique community and family needs through strong legislative frameworks that support the provision of child care and early learning opportunities for BC families. We will take this resolution under advisement as new policies and initiatives are developed. Significant new public investments to support the legislative frameworks The BC government invests approximately 608 million annually on early learning and childhood development initiatives, services and supports. This includes investments in child care amounting to more than 297 million. This government recognizes the importance of early child care and learning in promoting healthy child development and providing support to BC families, and will continue to support programs and services that benefit the children and families in this province. While government is not in a position at this time to make significant new public investments, we will take this resolution under advisement to support access and funding for child care. Consolidating Early Care and Learning into the provincial Ministry of Education We will take this suggestion under advisement, but government does not have plans at this time to re-align responsibility for child care. Establishing an accountability framework that includes developmentally appropriate play-based learning in the early years and ensures positive outcomes for children The Ministry of Education led the development of the Early Learning Framework, in partnership with the Ministry of Children and Family Development and Ministry of Health, through collaboration with the early childhood sector. This framework, which emphasizes developmentally appropriate play-based learning, now sets expectations for all programs for young children in the province.