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The Early Child Development Agreement
September 11, 2000
First Ministers, with the exception of the Premier of Quebec have concluded an Early Child Development
agreement (ECD) that will provide more money in services and programs for families
and children – so that all Canadian children get the best possible start in
life.
Under the ECD agreement, the Government of Canada is making a
substantial investment of $2.2 billion in early child development over 5 years
through the Canada Health and Social Transfer -- the transfer through which the
federal government provides funding for health care, post-secondary education
and other social services.
Provincial and territorial governments have agreed to use this
increased funding to:
- Promote healthy pregnancy, birth and infancy,
- Improve parenting and family supports,
- Strengthen early childhood development, learning and care;
and,
- Strengthen community supports.
Governments have committed to work with Canadians in these
four priority areas to determine priorities. Each provincial or territorial
government will be able to tailor its early child development services to meet
the unique local needs of children and families.
The vision is to work over time towards better services in all
four priority areas across the country.
Regardless of the priorities governments choose, they will
report publicly on what they are doing. This will allow governments, and
Canadians, to track progress in improving the well-being of young children.
For Canadian families, these new investments could ultimately
mean better access to services such as:
- Pre-natal classes and screening;
- Pre-school programs and child care; and,
- Parent information and family support.
The ECD agreement fulfills a major commitment made by the
government in the 1999 Speech from the Throne .
There is growing evidence about how a good start in life is
vital to a child’s development. Canadian governments realize they need to
invest wisely in services supporting children during their early years so that
they will be healthy, safe, secure, ready to learn, and have the opportunities
to develop their unique potential.
To date the Government of Canada has made major investments in
support of this priority:
- We worked together with provincial and territorial
governments and First Nations to help children living in poverty through the
National Child Benefit. Federal contributions to income support in this area
will reach $2.5 billion by the year 2004.
- We have extended parental leave under Employment Insurance
from six months to one year for employed parents.
- We made families our first priority for tax
cuts.
Ongoing Government of Canada initiatives include:
- Programs supporting Aboriginal children and their
families, such as Aboriginal Head Start; and,
- Health initiatives, such as the Community Action Program
for Children and the Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program.
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