On February 10, 2023, as part of the Government of Canada’s 2023 Pre-Budget Consultation process, we made a written submission on behalf of ourselves and 52 other organizations (available here).
In this submission, we support the continued building of a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) system in which all children in Canada have access to quality early learning and child care programs and services that support their development and enable them to reach their full potential.
Developing strong literacy skills is a key component of children’s development and is critical to children reaching their full potential. Therefore, to enable the ELCC system’s success, we recommend that the Government of Canada, in collaboration with its provincial and territorial partners, further embed foundational policies that support improved children’s literacy within a high-quality, affordable, accessible, and inclusive ELCC system.
Improved children’s literacy should be advanced within the ELCC system through partnering with provinces and territories to:
- Enable early childhood educators to access quality training that includes the why and how of developing children’s early literacy skills;
- Strengthen additional pathways to children’s literacy for families that do not yet participate in early learning and child care programs; and
- Include data on the effectiveness of the ELCC system’s at improving children’s literacy development as part of the broader ELCC data strategy.
We stand ready to assist the Government of Canada, alongside its provincial and territorial partners, in implementing these recommendations.
We’re grateful to the 53 submission signatories, listed below:
- ABC Life Literacy Canada
- Affiliated Services for Children and Youth (ASCY)
- Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario
- Bookmates
- Canada West Foundation
- Canadian Childcare Federation
- Canadian Children's Book Centre
- Canadian Children's Literacy Foundation
- Centre for Family Literacy
- Children’s Book Bank
- Children's First Canada
- Children's Healthcare Canada
- Children's Reading Room
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
- Early Childhood Development Association of PEI (ECDA)
- ELLA - Early Learning and Literacy Alliance Waterloo Region
- Ensuring Full Literacy in a Multicultural and Digital World
- First Book Canada
- Further Education Society of Alberta
- Hearing and Speech Nova Scotia
- Inverness County Literacy
- Kids Can Fly
- Let's Talk Science
- Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick
- Literacy Lambton
- Literacy Nova Scotia
- Lloydminster Learning Council Association
- Maggie’s Place Family Resource Centre – Colchester
- Malvern Family Resource Centre
- Manitoba Child Care Association
- minibiblioPLUS powered by Fraser Hickson
- Montreal Children's Hospital
- Moose Jaw and District Literacy Network
- Mothers Matter Centre
- Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House
- Nunavut Bilingual Education Society (NBES)
- NWT Literacy Council
- Offord Centre for Child Studies - McMaster University
- Ontario Library Association
- Pediatric Chairs of Canada
- PEI Literacy Alliance
- PolicyWise
- Prince Albert Literacy Network
- Reading Partnership
- Resilient Kids Canada
- Saskatchewan Early Childhood Association
- Saskatchewan Literacy Network
- South Winnipeg Family Information Centre
- Storybooks Canada
- United for Literacy
- University of British Columbia - Language Sciences
- Yarmouth County Learning Network
- YWCA Canada
Further endorsed by:
Please contact us at info@childrensliteracy.ca if your organization would like to endorse these recommendations, or if you wish to learn more and get involved.
