April 19, 2022 Edmonton, Alberta Employment and Social Development Canada
The early learning and child care sector is evolving in increasingly complex and challenging environments. Identifying innovative practices and solutions that better meet the needs of children and families is necessary to improving early learning and child care for the benefit of families in Canada.
Today, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould, announced funding to the Getting Ready for Inclusion Today (The GRIT Program) Society of Edmonton for their Connecting Canada: Impacting Early Learning and Child Care Environments through Sustainable Leadership Development project, which is being funded through the Early Learning and Child Care Innovation Program.
This project is receiving a total of $2,594,903 in federal funding over 36 months, starting in March 2022 and will aim to improve the quality of inclusive early learning and child care programs and services for children with diverse learning needs across Canada. More specifically, it will support 12 early learning and child care service providers in various provinces and territories to adapt its established Access, Support and Participation (ASaP) program.
The Minister also participated in a roundtable with early childhood educators to talk about Budget 2022 investments and the important work they do in nurturing children. They are the heart of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system and key to ensuring that all families in Canada have access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care, no matter where they live.
Making life more affordable is one of the government's primary goals in Budget 2022. Since 2015, the Government of Canada has delivered real improvements to make life more affordable coast to coast to coast, including making an historic investment of $30 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system in collaboration with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners. By the end of 2022, child care fees will have been reduced by an average of 50 per cent, and by 2025-26, the average child care fee for all regulated child care spaces across Canada will be $10-a-day.
