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.