木瓜直播

Joint Statement for May is Child Care Month 2025

BC Aboriginal Child Care Society; 木瓜直播; Métis Nation BC; and Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC

While different organizations with distinct mandates, we recognize our shared priorities and continue to stand together, with a stronger voice, to advocate for all Early Learning and Child Care professionals across British Columbia.

We begin by offering gratitude for the places where this work is happening, the traditional territories across this land, and we recognize the inherent rights and jurisdiction of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit governments and governing bodies over the care and education of young children. We honour the professionals across the sector, from educators, caregivers, administrators, cooks, drivers, who care for, educate, and support children in licensed child care and other early childhood programs. Without them there is no early learning and child care system.

Additionally, we offer unique recognition for the Elders and language speakers in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, who share their knowledge, culture and language weaving healing into their work with children and families.

Across British Columbia there are children who are thriving, families who are able to work or attend school, and communities that are prospering in a multitude of ways, all because of access to quality early learning and child care programs and support. Since 2018, there has been notable progress through the advancement of new legislation, policy frameworks, and increased funding. This work has focused on rights, reconciliation, access, quality, and capacity.

However, as we recognize the progress made, it is also important to acknowledge that momentum has slowed. The BC government has not allocated new provincial funding for child care over the next three years, despite a demonstrated need for continued and significant systemic change. Today, 74% of children in BC still do not have access to licensed child care, and 45% of child care employers report losing more staff than they can hire, primarily due to low educator compensation and challenging working conditions.

At the same time, under current federal agreements, there are opportunities to build a more equitable system that nurtures and supports families and early childhood professionals, while respecting and advancing Indigenous jurisdictions and distinct worldviews. The best way to advance this work is to stand together.

In 2025 our pledge for Child Care Month is that we will continue to work and advocate for the public resources required to advance the early learning and child care systems that BC families and communities want, need and deserve. Systems that include and care for all children, that uphold the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, that provide fair compensation and working
conditions for professionals, that promote gender equity, and that create strong communities and a robust economy.

Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia

木瓜直播recognizes May is child care month as a time to honour early childhood educators across the province. Early childhood education forms the bedrock of a healthy, equitable society. ECEs are highly trained professionals who bring ethical expertise, commitment, and compassion to their work every day, shaping the critical early years of children’s lives and providing invaluable support to families and communities.

The Government of British Columbia is at a pivotal moment, holding both a unique opportunity and an urgent responsibility to fully recognize and value the essential contributions of Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) across the province.

The introduction of the $10aDay Child Care Plan marked a significant and commendable step toward creating a more affordable, accessible, and high-quality childcare system in B.C. This ambitious plan has raised public awareness of the importance of early learning and care. Without continued growth and parallel investments in the early childhood workforce—including fair, livable wages and improved workplace supports—the $10aDay vision will remain incomplete and unsustainable.

木瓜直播is ready to push forward in partnership. This is not just an investment in the workforce; it is an investment in the future of British Columbia’s children, families, and communities. The time to act is now.

Métis Nation British Columbia

During Child Care Month in British Columbia, Métis Nation British Columbia lifts up and honours all Early Learning and Child Care Professionals whose work lays the foundation for strong, healthy futures. We are especially grateful to those who walk alongside children with compassion, patience, and deep Métis cultural understanding.

In Métis communities, children are sacred gifts and raising them is a shared responsibility grounded in love, respect, and connection. These values, passed down through generations, continue to guide how we nurture and support our young ones today.

We offer our heartfelt gratitude to the educators who honour these teachings and who foster a sense of identity, belonging, and pride in culture for both Métis and non-Métis children. Your commitment to holistic, inclusive learning uplifts communities, preserves language and tradition, and inspires the next generation to walk proudly in both the world and their culture.

You are important mentors and role models. Thank you for the powerful and meaningful work you do every day.

BC Aboriginal Child Care Society

At the BC Aboriginal Child Care Society, we honour the work of Early Childhood Educators, Elders, and community leaders who are shaping spaces where Indigenous children grow up strong in their
languages, cultures, identities, and laws. This work carries threads that link our past with our present and lays the foundation for our future. This work is nation-building.

In our own organization, and in Indigenous communities across the province, transformative work is underway to strengthen capacity, increase access, and grow quality for early learning and child care programs and services. This work is powerful.
While powerful and important, we recognize it is also hard work and those leading it face complexity every day, as their communities continue healing from the long-term impacts of colonialism. It takes heart, it takes strength, and it takes hope. We raise our hands in gratitude to you.

To those leading this work in community, we offer our ongoing commitment to you and to the mandate we’ve been given, to implement the First Nations Early Learning and Child Care Framework. This means developing and offering culturally grounded resources, conducting meaningful research, providing training and supports, coordinating First Nations ELCC funding, and advocating for systemic change rooted in Indigenous jurisdiction and leadership. Together, we are shaping our future.

Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC

This May is Child Care Month, we urge the provincial government to reaffirm its commitment to the high quality, inclusive, flexible child care system recommended in the community $10aDay Plan, and confirmed in federal funding agreements.

BC cannot afford further delays to key aspects of system-building — such as a province-wide educator wage grid and an effective, fair $10aDay funding model, along with provincially-led expansion of new programs.

Our recent provincial polling confirms that the majority of British Columbians support faster action on building a quality child care system with the related benefits for children, families, educators, employers and communities.

Recent national data also shows that, across Canada, the $10-a-day child care program has already generated powerful economic returns. Therefore, prioritizing child care investments should be an essential component of BC’s strategy for economic development and community sustainability as we face new and shifting tariffs imposed by the United States.

Advancing affordable, high-quality, inclusive, and flexible $10aDay child care is one of the most effective ways to protect BC’s economy and support children, families, educators and communities - now and into the future.