Childcare Champion:

Childcare continues to be a high priority for BPW Canada and for working women across the country, whether in rural areas or urban centres. A June 2006 survey carried out by Environics Research showed that 76% of Canadians support a national affordable childcare strategy similar to the 2004 federal-provincial agreement that was cancelled by the current government. The 76% support for the previous program was consistent, regardless of whether respondents lived in urban or rural areas; whether their household included a stay-at-home parent; and in all geographic areas of the country. A strong majority of Canadians (77%) consider the lack of affordable childcare to be a serious problem.

There is a childcare crisis in Canada, with a small percentage of children having access to quality, affordable and accessible childcare. BPW Canada urges the federal government to listen to the views of Canadians, and to implement a national childcare program that meets the early childhood development needs of children, families and communities in this country.

• Canada lags far behind other industrialized nations in the care and education of its children. A new study from UNICEF has found that of 25 economically advanced countries, Canada scored at the very bottom – tied with Ireland and behind most European countries, the US, Australia and Mexico. Canada achieved only one out of 10 benchmarks: At least 50 per cent of staff working in accredited early-education facilities have a minimum of three years of relevant post-secondary education. Read the full report, The child care transition: A league table of early childhood education and care in economically-advanced countries, December 2008 (pdf)
  
  
• July, 2006 - Emergency Resolution on childcare –  passed at the BPW Canada Convention in Toronto in July 2006. (pdf)

For BPW Canada’s policy, see Index of Resolution
For recent submissions to government, see Briefs