The governments of Canada and New Brunswick have signed a three-year, bilateral early learning and child care agreement, which will see the federal government invest close to $30 million to improve early learning and child care for preschool-aged children in the province. The province will contribute an additional $41 million for a total of $71 million.
This funding will be used to support initiatives that will improve early learning and child care in New Brunswick. For example, we will:
- Transform at least 300 current child care providers into designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centres which will provide more affordable, accessible, inclusive and high quality early learning and child care services.
- Set a lower fee policy so families most in need can access high quality and affordable child care.
- Provide more spaces for infants and toddlers to address gaps within both the Anglophone and Francophone communities.
- Implement an inclusion policy for children facing diverse needs at designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centres.
- Foster the vitality of Acadian and Francophone communities through the development of guidelines for language acquisition and cultural identity.
- Increase professional learning opportunities for all early childhood educators.
By the end of the three-year agreement, this funding will build a high quality early learning and child care system that New Brunswick’s families can rely on.