The Province released its Report on the Review of the Child Care and Early Years Act, detailing what it heard during its five-year review, and identifying six action areas to improve the early years and child care system. The six action areas outlined in the report include:
Supporting quality in child care and early years settings
Creating flexible options for families and providers
Updating staffing qualifications to support workforce retention
Clarifying requirements for inclusion of children with special needs
Supporting Indigenous-led and culturally responsive programming
Reducing administrative burden and address issues and gaps
The Province will begin consulting with stakeholder groups on regulatory amendments and broader policy initiatives to support the above priorities. The Ministry of Education is proposing regulatory amendments that would address the following aspects of the early years and child care system:
flexibility and responsiveness
qualification requirements
administrative/regulatory burdens
health and safety
The regulatory posting will be available for public comment here on the Province's website until November 20, 2020. In addition to providing feedback through the Regulatory Registry, you may also send responses by e-mail to: CCEYA_CONSULTATION@ontario.ca.
OMSSA is working in consultation with Children's Services Leads amongst our membership to inform and prepare a response to the proposed regulatory amendments. If you have feedback or input to share on OMSSA's response, please email OMSSA's Manager of Policy Development and Public Affairs Darryl Wolk.
The Province also released its Early Years and Child Care Annual Report 2020, which provides an overview and snapshot of Ontario's child care and early years sector, as well as information to better understand the province’s early years and child care system. While the majority of the data is current up to March 31, 2020, the numbers presented reflect the period immediately prior to the emergency closure of child care centres in the province that resulted from the initial outbreak of COVID-19. According to the Province, as of September 28, 2020, 5,149 of 5,565 licensed child care centres have reopened.