Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care
We are writing in response to the Regulatory Registry Posting related to the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA) and the work of the Minister of Education’s Early Years Advisory Committee. We wish to share our concerns not only about the few regulatory proposals contained in this posting, but more broadly to express our unease with the current approach to developing these regulations, and the absence of broader action to address the child care crisis in this province.
The Ontario government has articulated a vision for early years in the province. It is reiterated in this most recent regulatory posting: “to ensure that Ontario’s children and families are well supported by a system of responsive, accessible and increasingly integrated early years programs and services.” This is an admirable vision and one that we share. What is the government’s plan to make this vision a reality? We need a clear and focused action plan with targets and timetables to move from this grand vision to concrete child care system change.
I am a third year early childhood leadership student at George Brown College and I am currently completing an internship to enter into my fourth and final year. Mid way through writing this response I had a conversation with my internship supervisor about what I had been writing that sprung from the subject of the differences in educational institutions. In my personal and professional opinion, there needs to be a more collaborative and holistic approach to these ‘stages of change’, this sector should operate like no other, we should stand out from the rest so that we can stand out to government officials like a sore thumb to initiate the change we need to see. Here in Ontario we are capable of so much more than the condition of the sector despite the current developments and it is time for a change to come.
~Jenessa, RECE