Background
Ontario currently provides $30.8 million in total funding for on reserve child care. Of the 133 First Nations in Ontario, only 57 have licensed child care for a total of 3,169 spots (as of March 1 2016). In addition five First Nations deliver their own child and family programs (M’Chigeeng First Nation, Nibinamik First Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River, Walpole Island First Nation, and Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve). The existing child care supply does not meet the need for First Nation communities.
The single largest line-item included in the one-year update to The Journey Together was children and family programs. This included $93.5 million over two years for child care and family programming on and off reserve, with up to $23.5 million over the next two years budgeted for new and enhanced child and family programs delivered by First Nations. This also came with a commitment of up to $12 million in ongoing annual operating funding beginning in 2018-19. Although this is an important investment, there are few publicly available details concerning implementation. The purpose of this blog post is to fill in those gaps on how the money is being allocated for children and family programs on reserve.
Ontario currently provides $30.8 million in total funding for on reserve child care. Of the 133 First Nations in Ontario, only 57 have licensed child care for a total of 3,169 spots (as of March 1 2016). In addition five First Nations deliver their own child and family programs (M’Chigeeng First Nation, Nibinamik First Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River, Walpole Island First Nation, and Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve). The existing child care supply does not meet the need for First Nation communities.
The single largest line-item included in the one-year update to The Journey Together was children and family programs. This included $93.5 million over two years for child care and family programming on and off reserve, with up to $23.5 million over the next two years budgeted for new and enhanced child and family programs delivered by First Nations. This also came with a commitment of up to $12 million in ongoing annual operating funding beginning in 2018-19. Although this is an important investment, there are few publicly available details concerning implementation. The purpose of this blog post is to fill in those gaps on how the money is being allocated for children and family programs on reserve.
The original commitment in The Journey Together, under the subheading of "closing gaps and removing barriers," was to:
- Expand five existing child and
family programs on-reserve and work with federal partners to make more
child and family programs available in more communities on reserve, and
- Help increase the number of
licensed child care spaces and culturally relevant programming for
children and families off reserve, delivered by urban Indigenous
organizations.
While these commitments are
related, the legal and policy frameworks of on and off reserve child care
fundamentally differ. The following is an examination of on-reserve child care.
Many ministries are impacted by this commitment, but the Ministry of Education (EDU) is the lead on this file. On reserve, they have provided capacity funding to PTOs and IFNs to carry out needs and gaps assessments in January 2017, and the project is currently in the proposal development phase - which is why few details are available regarding the financial roll-out of the committed funds. The province has stated its commitment to co-development of programming and services, in line with the Political Accord.
Legislative and Policy Context
On-reserve child care is a provincial responsibility. Ontario is responsible to regulate, license, and develop policy for on-reserve care. In December 2014, the Child Care Modernization Act, 2014 (CCMA) was passed, setting the stage for the enacting of the first new child care legislation in the Province in almost 70 years: the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA). Chiefs of Ontario Resolution 07/16 opposed this act because there was insufficient consultation in its creation. The ministry is now taking a phased approach to develop and implement new regulations for engagement and transitions.
Many ministries are impacted by this commitment, but the Ministry of Education (EDU) is the lead on this file. On reserve, they have provided capacity funding to PTOs and IFNs to carry out needs and gaps assessments in January 2017, and the project is currently in the proposal development phase - which is why few details are available regarding the financial roll-out of the committed funds. The province has stated its commitment to co-development of programming and services, in line with the Political Accord.
Legislative and Policy Context
On-reserve child care is a provincial responsibility. Ontario is responsible to regulate, license, and develop policy for on-reserve care. In December 2014, the Child Care Modernization Act, 2014 (CCMA) was passed, setting the stage for the enacting of the first new child care legislation in the Province in almost 70 years: the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 (CCEYA). Chiefs of Ontario Resolution 07/16 opposed this act because there was insufficient consultation in its creation. The ministry is now taking a phased approach to develop and implement new regulations for engagement and transitions.
On-reserve child care is largely policy driven. The Journey Together included commitments to $23.5 million over two years for child and family programs on reserve, a number of programs and services for on-reserve children, and capacity funding to determine needs. Needs assessments and proposals for new child and family programs on reserve are due to the ministry in late summer 2017.
The province has also released a Provincial Child Care Expansion Strategy which includes a move towards helping 100,000 more children aged 0-4 access affordable, quality licensed child care over five years. This will include engagement with First Nations, as affirmed through a Minister’s correspondence on May 4 2017. As of now, no decisions have been made regarding the scope and roll-out of the child-care expansion.
While this is a provincial responsibility, the federal government has also released its Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework which includes an investment of $7 billion over ten years (allocated in Budget 2017).
Work in 2016-17
Since the release of the Journey Together report in May 2016, the Ministry of Education has worked with Provincial-Territorial Organizations and Independent First Nations to co-develop and an engagement approach and plan for moving forward with these commitments.
The Chiefs in Assembly noted in Resolution 07/16 First Nation input had not been adequately considered in the legislative review of the Child Care and Early Years Act. The Chiefs of Ontario was therefore instructed by the Chiefs in Assembly to advocate with EDU, to create a bilateral technical table on child care and early years, and to report on progress made concerning new programming and regulations for early years and child care programming.
The province has affirmed its commitment to working with First Nations through its Provincial Child Care Expansion Strategy to co-develop a responsive and sustainable approach to child care. As of now, no decisions have been made on the particulars of implementation. Chiefs of Ontario is working with the Ministry and PTOs to ensure that these commitments turn into firm results that will benefit First Nation children and families.
No comments:
Post a Comment