Contents
Purpose and Declaration
5Purpose#
The purpose of this Act is to
(a)set out the Government of Canada’s vision for a Canada-wide, community-based early learning and child care system and its commitment to ongoing collaboration with the provinces and Indigenous peoples to support them in their efforts to establish and maintain such a system;
(b)set out the government’s commitment to maintaining long-term funding for the provinces and Indigenous peoples for the establishment and maintenance of that system;
(c)set out the principles that guide the ongoing federal investments in that system;
(d)establish the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care;
(e)further the progressive realization of the right to benefit from child care services as recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and
(f)contribute to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
6Declaration#
It is declared that
(a)the Government of Canada has as a goal to support the establishment and maintenance of a Canada-wide early learning and child care system where families have access to affordable, inclusive and high quality early learning and child care programs and services regardless of where they live;
(b)flexible early learning and child care programs and services that respond to the varying needs of children and families foster children’s development and are an important support for families and communities;
(c)access to affordable early learning and child care programs and services enables parents and guardians and tutors, particularly mothers, to reach their full economic potential, which contributes to a strong economy and greater gender equality;
(d)it is important for the Government of Canada to cooperate, collaborate and work in partnership with the provinces and Indigenous peoples and support them in their efforts to provide those programs and services; and
(e)First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families are best supported by early learning and child care programs and services that are culturally appropriate, that are led by Indigenous peoples and that respect the right of Indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent in matters relating to children.
Federal laws of Canada reproduced under the Reproduction of Federal Law Order (SI/97-5); not the official version. Source: Justice Laws Website.