Children playing at a daycare (photo credit: Province of B.C.)

By Kevin Rothwell

Two new acts proposed

B.C. moves toward inclusive universal child care

Jun 8, 2021 | 12:25 PM

VICTORIA – The provincial government has announced new legislation aimed at advancing universal child care and increasing wage stability for early childhood educators (ECEs).

The introduction of the early learning and child care (ELCC) act and the early childhood educators (ECE) act mirrors some of the items laid out in the BC Child Care Act introduced in 1996.

“Families have been experiencing child care chaos for too long,” said Katrina Chen, Minister of State for Child Care. “This legislation is an important step in our 10-year Childcare BC plan to give families access to quality, affordable child care. These proposed acts will reduce barriers to quality care, such as improving inclusive child care access and facilitating Indigenous-led child care, and will lay the foundation as we continue to build an inclusive, universal child care system for families.”

The province will convert nearly 400 licensed spaces into aboriginal head start spaces that will provide Indigenous-led, culturally relevant and no-cost child care to Indigenous families throughout the province.

The government plans to double the wage enhancements for ECEs to $4/hour by the end of September 2021.

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The proposed ELCC act will increase transparency and accountability by requiring the province to produce annual reports on its progress towards building an inclusive, universal child care system.

“We have been calling for an early care and learning act since the $10-a-Day Plan was first released by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates and the Early Childhood Educators of BC in 2011,” said Sharon Gregson, spokesperson for the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC. “There is much more for government to do, and we are hopeful this legislation will support development of the universal, high-quality, affordable public system that British Columbians expect.”

The proposed ECE act will help strengthen and support quality, and recognizes the value of the child care workforce by creating a stand-alone statute for ECEs. It will also reduce barriers to certifications for ECEs by allowing the registrar to issue temporary certification to ECEs who have received training abroad. This will help address the need for trained ECEs throughout the province.

“Along with the early care and learning act, we are pleased to see a separate act that aims to recognize educators for their unique and important pedagogy,” said Emily Gawlick, executive director, Early Childhood Educators of BC. “We hope to see the ECE act increase the call for highly educated early childhood educators across the province.”