Excerpts:
On May 27, 2013 in a Port Coquitlam, BC provincial courtroom, an unlicensed, unregulated daycare operator was sentenced to 18 months in prison after she plead guilty to criminal negligence causing death in relation to a one-year-old in her care. Sadly, this is not the first time in Canada that a child in an unregulated and unlicensed child care has suffered such a fate. Our collective hearts, sympathies and thoughts go out to each of the families that are affected by such tragedy.
As a nation, we have yet to adequately address the real needs of modern Canadian families, ensuring that all families and children who require child care have access to developmentally appropriate, quality programs that are regulated and monitored. We have yet to address the multitude of unregulated, unmonitored child care programs operating in Canada so that we can, at a minimum, ensure basic safety needs are being met. We have left too many families of young children in the tough position, where they are forced to make difficult decisions, decisions that we do not and would not impose on families looking for elementary, middle or secondary school choices. The importance of early childhood, the importance-as a start-of childhood safety and security, the importance of parents contributing to our economy should provide the impetus to do better for our youngest citizens.
Early learning and child care is a responsibility of the provinces and territories, but as the vast majority of Canadian mothers are in the paid workforce and as this is a concern that then affects most Canadian families, clearly it is a critical issue that requires national political leadership. For without it, Canada will continue to fail its children and families and thus the country.
This is not a partisan issue, but one that acknowledges the realities of the modern working Canadian family and the vast array of research that quantifies the importance of early childhood.
We call on the political parties in Canada to make children, their care, development and safety a priority so that we can avoid tragedies and provide parents with assurances that their children are in monitored and regulated environments.