Canada – British Columbia Early Learning and Child Care Agreement - 2021 to 2025

Investment

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022: $31 million.

Addressed pressure

Evidence shows that cities in BC still have some of the highest child care fees in the country. Only Calgary and cities in Ontario have higher median fees that in the Lower Mainland^{Footnote 1}.

Child care fees are the highest for infants and toddlers (up to age 3), reflecting the more intensive care required for younger children. In fiscal year 2020 to 2021, the median monthly child care fees for infants and toddlers (up to 35 months old) in licensed group facilities in receipt of Child Care Operating Funding (CCOF) in BC was $1,000^{Footnote 2}.

Through the childcare BC prototype sites, enhanced operating funding is provided to existing child care operators, conditional on their reducing parent fees to a maximum of $200 per month per child.

The mechanism

Through the Canada-BC ELCC Agreement (fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020 and fiscal year 2020 to 2021), BC modelled the introduction of universal child care by investing more than $90 million over 3 years to convert more than 50^{Footnote 3} existing licensed child care facilities into Universal Child Care Prototype Sites (Prototype Sites). Families accessing the Prototype Sites pay a maximum of $200 per month, per child for regular full-time care. Some families receive additional support through the Province’s Affordable Child Care Benefit and pay less than $200 per month to no fee at all.

Prototype Sites include spaces for school-age children (20%) and in multi-age facilities^{Footnote 4} that are licensed to care for children birth to age 12 years (2%)^{Footnote 5}. BC received approval for these sites from the Federal Government in September 2018, which continue to participate in the initiative.

With continued ELCC investment, BC will maintain an increased level of operational support for the existing Prototype Sites, totaling $31 million in fiscal year 2021 to 2022. Funding to administer low-cost spaces will continue to be provided to existing child care operators who are willing to provide low-cost care up to $200 per month per child, regardless of families’ incomes. The focus of funding in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is on ensuring no service impacts for families accessing current Prototype Sites. The funding will not be used to expand the number of facilities participating in fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

The Ministry contracted with R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd. (Malatest) to conduct an arms-length evaluation of the Prototype Sites initiative and gather information and evidence from participating child care providers, their staff, and the families they serve. The Evaluation and Analysis of the Childcare BC Universal Prototype Sites: Final Report (the Final Report) is available online, and includes evaluation and analysis on the impacts of $10 per day child care on families and child care providers, financial analysis, possible future funding models, and the Social Return on Investment. The results of the evaluation conducted by Malatest, as well as additional assessment by the Ministry, will help inform the future of universal child care in British Columbia.

Impacts

With an investment of $31 million in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, estimations project Prototype Sites will maintain current supports for more than 2,500 licensed child care spaces offering low- or no-cost care to approximately 2,500 children, maintaining the same number of spaces as were supported in fiscal year 2020 to 2021 and exceeding the program’s initial target (under the fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020 ELCC Agreement) of 1,768 full-time spaces.

For families, access to affordable child care is simplified by subsidizing care through the operators. Families do not need to apply to access the low-cost spaces, with fees limited to $200 per month (though eligible families may apply to receive additional benefits through the Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB), further lowering their cost of care).

The current selection of the Prototype Sites reflects the diversity of B.C.’s geography, populations and parent needs, with specific consideration being given to providers that serve Indigenous families, single-parent families, families in underserved communities, and parents working non-standard hours.

*Based on maintaining supports for children accessing reduced/no-cost care in PT Sites in February 2021. Based on self-reported data from prototype sites. Number of children accessing no-cost child care is included in the number of children with reduced costs. These 600 children are part of the 2,500 children accessing child care at reduced costs.

ᵃThis number fluctuates on a monthly basis based on the demographics of families accessing BC’s ACCB. Federal funding is used to support families to pay $10 per day for child care provided at a prototype sites; some families are eligible for additional provincial funding that reduces their monthly child care costs to zero.

Priority 2: Underserved communities

Expand culturally-based Indigenous child care.

Investment

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022: $10 million.

Addressed pressure

Indigenous children make up 9% of the children in BC. While the overall number of Indigenous children is low, these children and their families are more likely than non- Indigenous families to face barriers in accessing child care and are more likely to live in economically vulnerable situations. For example, 6 out of 10 Indigenous children live with both parents compared to 8 out of 10 non-Indigenous children^{Footnote 6}. Indigenous children accounted for 7.7% of all children aged 0 to 4 years, but they accounted for more than one‑half (51.2%) of all foster children aged 0 to 4.

The Aboriginal Head Start (AHS) program provides an ideal evidence-based platform for early learning and child care programming for children aged 0 to 6 years and their families. Using a culturally relevant curriculum that includes language and culture, nutrition, school readiness and social supports, AHS provides wrap around family support and inclusion services at no cost to Indigenous families. AHS sites provide child care for children aged 0 to 3 years and from 3 to 5 years, as well as preschool and drop-in/outreach services; AHS spaces are not offered to children over the age of 6. The AHS model of child care that couples capital investments with on-going operational funding offers a model of Indigenous-led child care for a holistic approach with wrap around services for Indigenous families.

A $30 million 3-year investment was directed to the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and Aboriginal Head Start Association BC (AHSABC) to support the expansion of the Aboriginal Head Start Program through the fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020 ELCC Agreement. Both capital and operational funding to support space creation and operations was allocated. FNHA received $3.5 million per year and AHSABC received $6.5 million per year from 2017 to 2020. FNHA allocated funding to communities most in need based on population and current resources, and AHSABC selected communities based on demonstrated need and readiness to build and operate AHS programs. The demand for AHS’s initial call for applications came from over 120 communities. After operationalizing this funding, 643 spaces in 31 communities were created, with 575 spaces currently operational and 68 spaces waiting to become licensed and offering outreach services to families and/or group care in alternate locations.

A total of 575 of the 643 spaces are currently operating. FNHA operates 19 sites with 340 spaces and AHSABC operates 12 sites with 303 spaces throughout the province of which 235 spaces are operating licensed child care spaces and the remaining 68 are serving families through outreach until they become licensed.

The focus of funding in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 is the maintenance of operations for 575 spaces and support for the additional 68 spaces, once they become operational in current sites to ensure continued service for families.

The mechanism

British Columbia will continue directing $3.5 million to FNHA and $6.5 million to AHSABC to continue with the AHS services in on and off-reserve communities. FNHA and AHSABC work collaboratively to provide oversight and quality assurance, support capacity development and training in AHS sites. With continued ELCC investment, AHSABC and FNHA will provide ongoing operational funding for the existing AHS Sites, totaling $10 million in fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

Continued funding of these programs aligns with the following government commitments:

• Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act: specifically related to supporting the implementation of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples articles on revitalization of, and access to, language and culture
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action: specifically calls for better coordination, respect for community drivers and increased prevention programming
• Indigenous Resilience, Connectedness and Reunification, From Root Causes to Root Solutions, A Report on Indigenous Child Welfare in BC (2016): specifically recommendations to expand prevention investments for Indigenous Families
• final report from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: specifically calls to provide long-term stable funding for wraparound services

Impacts

With an investment of $10 million in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, AHS sites will not need to re-apply for annual operating funds and will continue offering no-cost early learning and care services to Indigenous children and families. Families will continue to have access to infant/toddler, group and multi-age care, enhanced staffing to create inclusive environments and outreach family support.

The selection of the AHS Sites includes rural and remote communities, First Nations communities, Aboriginal Friendship Centres and urban organizations and Métis organizations across the province.

Note: This table was modified for accessibility reasons.

Priority 3: Underserved communities

Maintain enhancement to Supported Child Development Programs for children with extra support needs.

Investment

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022: $10 million.

Addressed pressure

For children with extra support needs and their families, support is often required to enable them to access beneficial programs and services at an early age. Without timely and appropriate supports, some children with extra support needs may have their potential for full development impacted. For their parents, access to inclusive alternative care options provides the extra support needed to allow them to work and/or study.

The Supported Child Development Programs (SCD) and the Aboriginal Child Development Programs (ASCD) are foundational programs that provide direct support and interventions to young children who have or are at high risk of a developmental delay or disability and their families. In BC, the current investment continues to not meet the demand, particularly given that the number of child care spaces in BC continues to grow under the Childcare Plan BC initiatives.

The fiscal year 2017 to 2018 to fiscal year 2019 to 2020 Canada-BC ELCC agreement provided an enhancement of $10 million annually to SCD and ASCD programs. This funding was intended to reduce wait times for families and provide increased service. Based on an estimated average cost of $7,000 per child, the $10 million annual investment was anticipated to create access for 1,428 children. With the enhanced funding added to the existing provincial funding, it was anticipated that the current waitlist for SCD and ASCD would be eliminated during the 3 years of this agreement.

A significant limitation of the above estimate was that it did not account for children on the existing caseload who were needing an increased level of service. Families of children with support needs are often offered reduced child care hours when the SCD or ASCD support allocation does not meet the needs for full-time child care. Comparison of fiscal year 2017 to 2018 and fiscal year 2020 to 2021 data suggests that the $10 million ELCC annual enhancement resulted in the following:

• an average of 1,192 more children being served each month, improving overall access to inclusive child care
• a 30% average increase in direct service hours across all children accessing SCD and ASCD, enabling access to increased hours of child care

While the number of new children being served is lower than anticipated, data indicates a significant increase in direct service hours across the program. These findings suggest that the $10 million annual funding enhancement has been directed at addressing unmet needs for children already on a SCD or ASCD caseload, as well as an increase in average number of children and families served.

The mechanism

The enhanced funding for SCD and the ASCD will be maintained in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 to continue to assist in meeting the support needs of 1,192 more children with extra support needs and their families each month and enabling them to access child care services^{Footnote 7}.

Although the current programs are not limited to children under the age of 6, it is estimated that almost 70% of the current program resources are utilized to support these younger children. SCD funds are delivered to contracted agencies within communities, and these agencies determine how to allocate the resources based on local needs. Under these programs, children under the age of 6 are given higher priority than school-age children in the allocation of resources and supports.

Considering the foundational role of the SCD programs, support to children under the age of 6 in child care settings is prioritized. SCD also provides supports to school-age children in out-of-school care settings; however, the early years are prioritized when determining local budgets. As with supports in the early years, supports in out-of-school care settings include a range of direct supports to enable children with support needs to participate fully in out-of-school care settings.

Communities with diverse and unique needs including Indigenous communities, minority language and cultural groups, and French speaking communities are able to benefit from these specialized supports to access inclusive child care settings as needed. Additionally, ASCD services are delivered within a cultural model, respecting traditional protocol, language and traditions^{Footnote 8}.

Impacts

In fiscal year 2017 to 2018, Ministry data identified an estimated average monthly caseload of 5,971 children and their families for SCD and ASCD programs, at any given point in time. The $10 million annual enhancement enabled access for an average of 1,192 more children being served each month. Maintaining the enhancement is expected to continue to serve an average of 1,192 more children per month compared to the fiscal year 2017 to 2018 baseline. In addition, it is expected that children across the SCD caseload will continue to receive a 30% increase in hours of direct service compared to the fiscal year 2017 to 2018 baseline. Maintaining this increase in service will enable more children and families to access more hours of inclusive child care.

Priority 4: Accessibility

Complete early care and learning environmental scans.

Investment

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022: $1.20 million.

Addressed pressure

Many families with children in B.C. face long wait-lists to access child care services in their community, close to home, work or school. Across BC there are enough licensed child care spaces for approximately 20% of children aged 0 to 12 years old. Due to a lack of affordable child care, many parents struggle to find care to cover a full work-day even after children start kindergarten.

The province has been working with school districts to address the lack of child care spaces, and Boards of Education have become involved in supporting and creating child care spaces in schools and on school property. Studies show that having child care at schools ensures smoother transitions for children and better educational outcomes, and it also helps parents with a single drop off and pick-up location.

School districts are already involved in creating child care spaces on school grounds, but without data to understand the priority needs in their district. In fiscal year 2020 to 2021, 62 projects in school districts across the province were approved to receive provincial funding through the Childcare BC New Spaces Fund and Rapid Renovation fund to create almost 2,800 new child care spaces on school grounds for children aged 0 to 12 years.^{Footnote 10} In fiscal year 2020 to 2021, there were almost 17,000 child care spaces in public schools or on public school grounds for school-aged children and approximately 26,400 child care spaces for all children aged 0 to 12 years old in or on school grounds.^{Footnote 11}

Currently, Boards of Education have no legislative mandate and varying levels of knowledge related to child care in their communities. Boards of Education require additional resources to:

• consider how early care and learning is currently situated in their districts
• build a strong foundation in early care and learning for students through partnerships and infrastructure planning

The completion of early care and learning environmental scans may support Boards of Education in facilitating future child care space creation projects to meet identified needs, including consideration for culturally-relevant services for Indigenous families and inclusive spaces for children with support needs.

The mechanism

Boards of Education will receive funding and support to complete an early care and learning scan. Taking inspiration from the Equity in Action^{Footnote 12} project currently underway in school districts across the province, Boards of Education would be expected to conduct an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of their programs and policies. A full-scale review ensures that at a governance level, a learning environment level, and a learner level, early care and learning is represented and integrated into the district system, culture, and processes:

• governance level: review of Board policies, contracts, resource allocation, and staffing
• environment level: review of early care and learning programs on school grounds and community partnerships
• learner level: review of current needs of underserved students (e.g. children with extra support needs)

Boards of Education would be expected to connect with local governments^{Footnote 13} to consider any child care needs assessments completed at a municipal or regional level and with local Child Care Resource and Referral Centres related to any inventory or information they have regarding early care and learning needs in the community.

Boards of Education would partner with urban Indigenous communities, local First Nations and Métis partners in the region and/or Aboriginal Head Start programs or the Aboriginal Head Start Association of BC to ensure the environmental scan and planning exercises fully consider the needs of Indigenous children and families and supports the development of Indigenous-led child care for Indigenous children and families.

The funding could be split between the 60 school districts, with the exact amount provided to each school district taking the following into consideration:

• aligning funding with child enrolment/district size
• increased funding for rural and remote communities that may have increased costs
• increased funding for large, urban districts that may have increased planning needs

Impacts

Up to 60 school districts in BC could complete an early care and learning environmental scan that could support future child care space creation projects to meet identified needs in their community. This could support the development of new child care spaces in up to 60 school districts across the province.

School districts are representative of the diverse and localized needs of their communities. An early care and learning environmental scan would help them to identify the early learning and child care needs of Indigenous communities, minority language and cultural groups and French speaking communities in their region.

School districts vary in their understanding of early learning and child care. Conducting an environmental scan will build district capacity, support community partnership, and represents a strong first step in integrating child care into the broader learning environment.

Priority 5: Quality

Develop a quality assessment framework for child care.

Investment

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022: $0.22 million.

Addressed pressure

A key goal under BC’s plan to introduce universal child care in BC is to improve the quality of child care programs within BC’s child care system. Since 2018, BC has taken action to increase compensation and improve education and professional development opportunities for early childhood educators and other early care and learning professionals. Currently, there is no standard, provincially-endorsed, quality assessment framework for use in reflecting and evaluating child care program quality in BC, including programming provided at prototype sites. The development of one or more quality frameworks would support the investments that have already been made towards quality by supporting continuous quality improvement and ensuring accountability for public investments in child care.

The mechanism

The province would support the development or modification of one or more quality assessment/program evaluation frameworks that could be used to assess quality on an ongoing basis, starting with prototype sites. This would be a multi-year project and funding in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 (year 1) would be used to work with a third-party contractor to evaluate existing quality assessment frameworks, select one or more frameworks to use or modify, conduct targeted engagement with the sector, including Indigenous partners, complete agreed upon modifications to the framework(s) and incorporate feedback. Broader engagement with the child care sector and piloting of the quality framework(s) at prototype sites will occur in year 2.

The initiative would provide funding to a third-party contractor to support the selection and development/modification of one or more quality assessment frameworks and will involve working with a program evaluation committee with representatives from the child care sector who have expertise in quality assessment frameworks, especially the frameworks currently available in BC. The selection and/or modification process will also require working closely with Indigenous partners to ensure the framework that is selected is appropriate for use in Indigenous child care settings or that a framework with a specific Indigenous lens is available for use in Indigenous communities and Indigenous child care settings.

The evaluation process will require ensuring the framework(s) are appropriate for different types of child care including licensed group, licensed family and licensed multi-age care and in different locations such as rural and remote communities and Indigenous communities, with priority for children under 6 years of age. The evaluation will also consider how the assessment framework would be implemented.

Impacts

A quality assessment framework would be developed that could be used in all licensed child care settings (group, family, multi-age), in rural, remote and Indigenous communities, by minority language and French language child care settings and would be appropriate in settings that care for children with support needs. There are approximately 126,000 licensed child care spaces in BC receiving provincial Child Care Operating Funding or funding as a prototype site.

Priority 6: Quality

Plan and host the Early Care and Learning Summit 2022.

Investment

Fiscal year 2021 to 2022: $0.15 million.

Addressed pressure

BC has announced that it will be moving responsibility for child care into the Ministry of Education by 2023 and is actively working towards the implementation of a universal child care system that will provide child care for every child and family who needs or wants it. BC is in the process of planning for this transition and could benefit from learning from other jurisdictions who have integrated their child care and education departments, who are leaders in the early care and learning field and who have implemented successful low-cost models of early care and learning.

The mechanism

The Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Ministry of Education will collaborate to plan and host the Early Care and Learning Summit in January 2022, which will offer timely information to inform policy and practice based on lessons learned through the integration of early care and learning across Canada and around the world.

Experts from BC, Canada and around the world will meet to discuss challenges and propose solutions to building and sustain high quality early education.

Sessions will explore:

• evidence-based change in policy and global development and its connection to improving education, child development, and outcomes for children
• evaluations of current policy and program changes at all levels of government and across Canada, through the integration of child care into Ministries of Education
• effective policies and practices to further professionalize early childhood educators
• increasing inclusiveness of early childhood education systems and settings
• building equity, the public advantage and the workforce in early care and learning
• lessons learned from the integration of child care within Ministries of Education

These topics will be highlighted by international experts from Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Norway, Australia, and Sweden. Canadian expertise will include contributions from Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and their work on systems change with a focus on continuity of learning from birth to age 12. BC experts will contribute innovative initiatives that are currently being implemented to ensure that all children and families can benefit from quality, inclusive care, that is integrated within an aligned early care and learning system.

Impacts

BC will learn from other jurisdictions internationally and in Canada who have successfully integrated or are working on integrating child care into Ministries of Education and who are leaders in the early care and learning field. BC will be able to utilize information and knowledge gained through this summit to support planning and development as BC moves towards the implementation of a universal child care system and towards the integration of child care in the Ministry of Education. This summit will also support networking across the education and child care sectors and the development of connections that could support continued engagement and support as BC transitions to a new child care model.

It is anticipated that there would be 400 participants attend this summit both in person and virtually, representing a variety of child care and education stakeholder groups.

Innovation and knowledge

Innovation

Innovation is vital to achieving BC's commitment to implementing a 10-year universal child care plan. BC has committed to making life more affordable, delivering services that people count on, and doing so in a sustainable and innovative way. This action plan lays out several new ways of doing things in response to these commitments.

Knowledge

Under the terms of the ELCC Multilateral Agreement, BC has committed to continue to work with Canada and the other provinces and territories to contribute to research and the general understanding of what works for providing quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive early learning and child care in Canada.

The province is committed to accounting for the new funding provided by Canada and to report on the success of the new initiatives and enhancements to current programs and services.

Note: This table was modified for accessibility reasons.

The following indicators and targets will be utilized to track and report on results.

In addition to reporting on the key indicators noted above, BC will report on other indicators as available.

Annex 3: Early childhood workforce funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022

• In this section

  • 1.0 Purpose
  • 2.0 Area of focus
  • 3.0 Financial provisions
  • 4.0 Accountability

Preamble

Whereas, Canada and British Columbia agree that the early childhood workforce is integral to providing high-quality ELCC.

Whereas, the Multilateral ELCC Framework is based on 5 key principles, one of which is ensuring ELCC systems are of high quality.

Whereas, the Multilateral ELCC Framework recognizes the importance of qualifications and training for the early childhood workforce as part of a high quality ELCC system.

Now therefore, the parties agree as follows.

1.0 Purpose

1.1 Canada and British Columbia agree that for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 only, a one-time financial support from Canada to British Columbia will be used to support the recruitment and retention of the early childhood workforce.

2.0 Area of focus

2.1 British Columbia agrees to utilize funding in licensed or regulated settings to support the attraction and retention of a qualified workforce, including through training, professional development, wages, bursary programs, tuition support and grants.

2.2 For greater clarity, activities that may support the objective of attracting and retaining a qualified workforce include but are not limited to: providing employment and training supports, lowering the cost of education for those seeking their early childhood educator degree/certificate, supporting the workforce in providing quality ELCC, and improving the ability to provide support to families more in need, including lower-income families; Indigenous families; lone-parent families; children with disabilities and children needing enhanced or individual supports; Black and racialized children; families from Official Language Minority Communities; families in underserved communities; and/or those working non-standard hours. Needs also include having limited or no access to programs and services in the children's official language.

2.3 British Columbia may use up to 10% of its workforce funding allocation towards administration costs.

3.0 Financial provisions

3.1 In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, to be paid concurrently with the contribution provided under section 4.2.3 of the Agreement, Canada has designated the following maximum amount to be transferred in total to all provinces and territories under this initiative: $420,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2021.

3.2 Each province and territory will receive a fixed base rate of $2 million per year, and the balance of the funding will be distributed on a per child (aged 0 to 12) basis, as follows.

3.3 The final amount to be paid to British Columbia is determined by the formula F x K/L, where:

• F is the total funding amount transferred to provinces and territories minus the base funding
• K is the population of children aged 0 to 12 in British Columbia in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, as determined using population estimates from Statistics Canada
• L is the total population of children aged 0 to 12 in Canada in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, as determined using population estimates from Statistics Canada

3.4 Subject to adjustment based on the formula described in section 3.3 of this Annex, British Columbia’s estimated share of the amount described in section 3.2 of this annex will be as follows.

For the purposes of the formula in section 3.3 of this Annex, the population of children aged 0 to 12 in British Columbia for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 and the population of children aged 0 to 12 in all provinces and territories for that fiscal year are the respective populations as determined on the basis of the preliminary estimates of the respective populations on July 1 of that fiscal year. These estimates are released by Statistics Canada in September of each fiscal year.

3.5 Sections 4.6.1 to 4.6.5 of the Agreement, respecting carry forward, apply to funds provided under this Annex.

4.0 Accountability