Evidence of meeting #57 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Thank you.
Can the department provide the committee with the full list of the groups and the individuals that it consulted with?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
We published a “what we heard” report online in November 2022, which I believe—
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Can you table who you met with with the committee, please?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
I believe that information's available online, but if not, we can provide it to the committee.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Perfect.
Did you say that private child care was consulted at all, or was it just not-for-profit?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
We reached out to 70 national and regional stakeholders. I don't want to speak for sure right now about whether or not there were private entities that were involved in that, but we can consult the list.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Why don't you know that?
For me, representing a rural riding that does not have access.... The major city's two and a half hours away, either way, east or west, from me. That's an important component for parents where I live.
I would make the assumption that the department knew whether they consulted with private care providers or not.
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
Yes, I've certainly spoken with private providers in the past.
What I don't—
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
That's not part of this consultation process.
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
The consultation process took place between January and March last year. I would want to have a look at that list again before confirming absolutely the names on there. I do not remember the names of all 70 on that list that were consulted.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
What was identified by each stream as the greatest obstacle in ensuring affordable access to child care?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
In terms of assuring...?
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
For public and for non-profit providers, what was the greatest obstacle that they felt was in the way for access to affordable child care for parents and children?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
Our “what we heard” report does not break down what we heard from the perspective of not-for-profit providers or for-profit providers. What our report details is what we heard from provinces and territories, from indigenous partners and from experts and stakeholders in the space.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
Did the department consult with child care providers in rural and remote areas, besides the indigenous stakeholders?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
Yes, child care providers from rural and remote areas are engaged at our implementation committee tables and are engaged at every step of the way as we look to build the Canada-wide system. We don't distinguish between engaging only with folks at the urban level or at the rural or regional level.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK
It matters though, because rural and urban are very different. They have different needs. They even have different access. That very much matters.
I hope that the department makes that distinction, because there are people in my riding who can't access child care, and if we're not differentiating, that's a problem.
As my follow-up question, what was identified as the greatest obstacle in providing affordable access to child care in rural and remote communities? How is the department going to address, specifically for rural and remote communities, the obstacles that parents and children have in accessing child care?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
I'll just specify that the engagement that I'm speaking about was on legislation. The legislation was not seeking a specific response on access to affordable child care. We were seeking—
5 p.m.
Conservative
5 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
We were seeking a response on the legislation and the discussion guide outlining what we expected to see in the legislation, and on the principles that we anticipated would form part of it. Specific responses on challenges that are being faced by rural or remote families in accessing child care have not been specifically addressed through this engagement process.
5 p.m.
Conservative
5 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Ms. Falk.
Ms. Saks, you have the floor for five minutes.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Ya'ara Saks Liberal York Centre, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our officials who are joining us here today to give us some detail and technical briefing on the legislation.
I do appreciate that we spent some time on the agreements earlier, because many of the consultations on what my colleague Ms. Falk was asking about—rural access—are part of the provincial consultations that happen with stakeholders that are unique to each province and territory.
I'd like to dig into some of the language of the legislation, because there seemed to be a lack of clarity by my colleague, Ms. Ferreri, when it comes to inclusion. In 7(c) it says:
support the provision of early learning and child care programs and services that are inclusive and that respect and value the diversity of all children and families and respond to their varying needs
Could you help us understand the language of inclusivity and that we're referring to families and children and not child care providers, because they vary from province to territory?
5 p.m.
Director General, Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Department of Employment and Social Development
Certainly.
Inclusivity is addressed in the legislation, as you mentioned, in two different places. We address it in the declaration portion of the legislation in terms of laying out a purpose. That purpose is to ensure that the Canada-wide system is inclusive of the needs of diverse families across Canada, whether they are racialized families, families with a disability or families in rural and remote communities that may not have access to early learning and child care. It's addressed in the declaration section.
We also address inclusivity in the principles as we describe the principles of the legislation. Inclusivity, of course, is in there, and that aligns with the existing bilateral agreements that have at their core needed investments from provinces and territories in inclusive early learning and child care.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Ya'ara Saks Liberal York Centre, ON
Thank you.
Through you, Mr. Chair, I'd like to lean into some comments made about flexibility of access in relation to those who are shift workers or those who may have different working hours. We live in an environment today where work varies from family to family and community to community.
Paragraph 6(b) of the declaration does address flexibility, but can we discuss how the bilateral agreements anchor the understanding by provinces and territories of the need for flexibility of access in their own communities?