Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to all of our witnesses for your testimony today. It's really important that we hear your stories, get them on the record and figure out how to make our country even better.
I'm going to turn to my friend, Medora Uppal, from YWCA Hamilton.
Thank you for joining us, Medora. Your testimony was really important.
As you know, I have a friend who is a child care provider with YWCA Hamilton. I remember when the child care deal with Ontario was reached. We were crying, talking about the stories of women who were getting this money back in their bank accounts. They didn't realize where it was from and were just so relieved. They could pay their mortgages. So much more freedom suddenly opened up to them.
However, the work is not done. As you've outlined in your opening statement, there is still more work to do. Part of it is ensuring that early childhood education is a respected and well-paid career, equal to its value to us as a society.
When we formed this agreement with Ontario, there was a commitment by the province to develop a wage framework for ECEs, to commit to its implementation, to set a wage floor and to institute wage improvements. I know that YWCA has always paid ECEs a little better than the average, but perhaps you could talk to us about how this part of the agreement has been rolling out, any questions or concerns you have about it and perhaps any suggestions you have on how we could make that work more quickly and better.