Overview
What now for child care? was a two-day policy symposium that gathered over 60 researchers, Indigenous experts, advocates, policy makers and child care sector stakeholders from across Canada in an in-person event in Ottawa June 9–10, 2022. The symposium was sponsored by Re-imagining care/work policies, a SSHRC Partnership Grant project, which focuses on the intersections between child care, parental leave and employment for diverse families. CRRU and Child Care Now, both community partners on the SSHRC project, collaborated with other members of the SSHRC project to organize the event.
Purpose
The event’s purpose was to take stock of how far early learning and child care policy has come on the path to a quality, inclusive early learning and child care (ELCC) system for all. Recognizing that we have achieved the first significant benchmark of agreements with all provinces and territories, it is important to now drill down on the next steps in implementing those agreements and associated action plans. The symposium – designed to generate free-flowing, inclusive exchange of ideas –was organized by four main policy topics and four policy propositions.
