Work. Family. Life.

Dear Premier Ghiz

Premier Robert Ghiz
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
premier@gov.pe.ca

Dear Premier Ghiz,

Autism now affects as many as 1 in 91 children, but it’s more than children. It affects families, friends and our One Island Community as a whole. Autism impacts more than one government department so a true Island Autism Strategy would see multiple departments working together but current supports fail many families when they need help the most. Families need real results, not another document that government ignores.

• A true Island Autism Strategy would see the Health Department decreasing diagnosis wait times from over a year to less than three months.
• A true Island Autism Strategy would see the Social Services Department giving all families the same information about the financial supports available to them to help their child.
• A true Island Autism Strategy would see the Education Department reducing the up to two year wait time for early intervention services because a two year wait is not an early intervention at all.
• A true Island Autism Strategy would see the Rural Development Department ensuring that families in rural areas have access to comparable service levels for their children as families in urban areas.
• A true Island Autism Strategy would see the Innovation Department finding ways to make sure that the people delivering one on one therapy to these children make at least as much in wages as a liquor store clerk.

Think back to the election of 2007. Island families were promised that services would improve and that we would be put first for a change. More than two years later that hasn’t happened and that needs to change now. Island children can’t wait because Autism doesn’t work on a political schedule.

I ask that your government put these Islanders first for a change and work with families to create a better system for the children of today as well as the children of tomorrow.

Yours truly,

Jane Boyd

President, Parents for Choice & Quality Society

President, Work Family & Life Consulting Services Ltd.

Why investing in the early years is critical...

HELP is pleased to announce the release of a new report entitled "15 by 15: A comprehensive Policy Framework for Early Human Capital Investment in BC".

This report dramatically illustrates why all of us - individuals, businesses, and governments - should care about the real brain drain in BC resulting from early vulnerability.

Health Work and Wellness coming to Vancouver in 2010

Health Work & Wellness™ Conference 2010

Thinking Organizations...SUCCEED!

Hyatt Regency Hotel
Vancouver, B.C,
September 30 - October 3, 2010

Think, think, think,... our brains are always doing it and our organizations are always counting on it. When change and transformation are happening so rapidly in business and in the world around us, we need to be more fluid in our thinking on one hand, while being better critical thinkers on the other. We need to tap into our right brain more often for that intuition and emotional awareness that is there, yet not lose sight of the left brain logical, objective thinking.

For 2010, Health Work & Wellness™, Canada's leading forum on organizational health will focus on helping you to build a "thinking organization". This requires engaged, empowered leadership. It requires us to narrow the "knowing-doing gap". It means integrating organizational health with business objectives. And it may require a big culture shift.

As we emerge from economic recession, the success of organizations will be determined largely by their ability to think in a new business environment. Optimal performance at all levels will depend on optimal thinking.

via conferences.healthworkandwellness.com

About Canadian ECE - Quick Fact 28

Number of initial maternity leave claims allowed in 2007: 225,749 Total births: 354,085 64% of births resulted in maternity benefit payment.

From:

Trends & Analysis 2008
Using data from Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada 2008, the Trends & Analysis 2008 documents provide quick facts and examine current issues and directions in ECEC.

Just released: Early childhood education and care in Canada 2008

This comprehensive report, the 8th edition since 1992, provides key data on child care and kindergarten across Canada. It tracks spaces, finances, quality issues and public policy developments at the provincial/ territorial and federal levels, includes demographic information such as mothers' labour force participation, and identifies trends over time.

About Canadian ECE - Quick Fact 5

Birth rates per 1,000 population in 2007: 11.1 Canadian average Provinces/territories range - from 8.7 to 25.2

From:

Trends & Analysis 2008
Using data from Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada 2008, the Trends & Analysis 2008 documents provide quick facts and examine current issues and directions in ECEC.

Help us build an online community on Full Day Kindergarten in Canada

Looking for info on Full Day Kindergaten? 

This is the place to visit!

BC, PEI and Ontario are now working on the development and launch of Full Day Kindergarten as part of the public education system.  WFL is working with several colleagues from across Canada to develop this new site and we are in the process of uploading info and resources.  We really need your help!

Help Us Link Resources

If you have suggestions for links and resources please email them to info@fulldaykindergaten.ca.  We welcome info from across the Country.  

Help Us Facilitate Discussion

We are looking for volunteers from across Canada to help us blog about the key issues in each Province and Territory regarding Kindergarten, Early Learning and Full Day Kindergarten.  If you feel that you can assist us with this please send an email your contact info as well as a summary of your qualifications to info@fulldaykindergarten.ca

Please tell your friends and colleagues, blog about this and Tweet about it.  We really need a centralized place that parents and educators can find info and resources easily and can also discuss the many issues related to the move toward Full Day Kindergarten.  Help us build Canada's first and foremost Full Day Kindergarten Community!

15 minutes of looking and still nothing...are the Federal Government really acting to help self employed families?

So it would seem that the Government of Canada are going to establish an expert panel to consult Canadians on how best to provide the self-employed with access to maternity and parental benefits under the Employment Insurance (EI) program.  The first press release on this seems to have come out on March 24, 2009.  In addition, there is a full promotional page devoted to this item on Canada's Economic Action Plan website. 

• I am interested to know who the experts are on this panel.
• Have they been appointed yet? 
• What is the timeline for their work? 
• Are there any terms of reference established for this panel yet? 
• Will there be a report issued?

I have looked all over the internet for at least 15 minutes now and can find no additional "action" anywhere on this item.  So I find myself wondering if the Federal Government is really acting at all on this issue?

It seems that the Conservatives had a lot of this already figured out prior to the election:

• The system will be voluntary.  Self-employed Canadians will be able to opt in to EI premiums and, in return, will be able to receive maternity and parental benefits.
• Self-employed Canadians will have access to the same type of maternity and parental benefits available to regular EI participants.
• Self-employed entrepreneurs will be required to opt-in to EI premiums at least six months prior to making a claim.
• Exact premium amounts and required payments post-claim will be set upon implementation, following a review by the newly created Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board.

If this is the case; why do we now need to consult with Canadians on this issue?

It might help the Government to know that this issue has been studied several times already. 

Here are a few resources from The Centre for Families Work & Well-being at the University of Guelph

• Self-employment for Women: Policy Options that Promote Equality and Economic Opportunities. (Rooney, Lero, Korabik & Whitehead). Funder: Status of Women Canada's Policy Research Fund. Executive Summary Contact: dlero@uoguelph.ca
• Evaluation of Parental Leave Benefitis: Impacts of Canada's extended leave policy for women, families, children and employers: Analysis of factors affecting fathers' use of parental leave and benefits (Lero). funder: Human Resources Development Canada through ARC. Contact dlero@uoguelph.ca

The Advisory Council on the Status of Women have also studied this issue. In 2004 they released a Policy Guide on Maternity and Parental Benefits.

The Canadian Council on Social Development called for action on this issue in the Spring of 2000. 

"To address the growing number of self-employed women and the dropping birth rate, the federal government should not only consider extending the duration of parental leave, it should also consider extending access to such benefits to include workers who are most in need, particularly self-employed women."

Here is a blog posting from the Straight.com earlier this year on the lack of real action on this.

“Why do they need to ask me?” Brewin said of the consultations. “It seems like the right thing to do. They need to spend money on consultation on that? Lord.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.  This issue is old news...it's time to actually do something about it...other than talk!!!!

Did you know?

Canadian attitudes toward early childhood learning

2008 Survey of Canadian attitudes toward learning: Early childhood learning Report from the Canadian Council on Learning examining Canadian attitudes, experiences and beliefs about learning during the early years.

Why Islander Day REALLY is good for business (and families)

Last year in the PEI government's Throne Speech it was announced that there would be a new stat holiday for the Province starting in February 2009.  The holiday, called Islander Day, is to be on the second Monday of every February.  This coming Monday will be the first official Islander Day on PEI and many individuals and families will be enjoying their new found time to relax, play and generally celebrate life on PEI. 

Unfortunately, is seems that there are some businesses who are complaining that this new stat holiday will negatively impact business on the Island.  According to a CBC news report, these businesses feel that the holiday will cost too much in terms of lost payroll with no additional revenues coming in the door on the day. 

Premier Ghiz, on the other hand, feels that the day will enhance business productivity,

"We'll actually see an increase in productivity," said Ghiz. "Usually after people have a day off they go back to work, they're a little more invigorated, they want to get a little more done. I see this as a win-win situation for the province." 

While I have been known to disagree with Premier Ghiz on many occassions about how his government is supporting Island families from a public policy perspective; in this case I fully agree with his thinking.  This seems to be one occassion where he really gets it.  He recognizes that investing in people will pay off for the Island in multiple ways.  What a good thing that is.

Dan James recently wrote a good post on his blog CEO Blues about this issue. In particular, this quote stood out to me:

"My advice to any island business owners reading this: This holiday wasn't meant to help you. It was meant to help your staff. It's a decision made by the public (the government) for the good of the people. We've deemed it healthy to have more time off, just like we deemed it a good idea to compost and recycle. It has to be legislated or greed would creep in and ruin it. Suck it up. Even with Islander Day we're at the bottom of the pile for statutory holidays in the country."

So after considering everything, here is my take on this issue....PEI (and Canada for that matter) need more CEO's that think like Dan James.  Dan totally gets the big picture here.  Even Premier Ghiz sees the value this holiday brings.  The simple truth of the matter is that investing in people pays off. Employees need time for their personal lives.  Employers who take steps to help their employees achieve better work-life balance are rewarded in more ways than we can count.  More and more employers are recognizing that it pays off to offer employees increased flexibility, time off, family supports and more.  Happy employees are more engaged in their work and ultimately that is good for the bottom line.  Study after study shows this. Leading employers demonstrate this through studies that show enhanced employee engagement scores in exchange for things like increased work work-life flexibilty, better communication, improved employee workload control and respect by management. 

Dr. Linda Duxbury, a business professor at Carleton University's Sprott Shaw School of Business, recently delivered her sixth and final report on work-life balance with the warning that policies to support working families are a must to get the economy rolling again.  She argued policy-makers must recognize that heavy workloads and their interference on family life are key reasons for Canada's declining birth rate and labour force. They need to develop strategies, polices and interventions to help stem this work-life "tsunami.

So for those businesses who disagree with this new holiday I say this....get with the program. (Or - even better - as Dan says: Suck it up.)  As a Province and as a Country we need to be doing more to invest in the wellbeing of our people and our communities.  What goes around comes around.  Believe it or not, your employee's wellbeing will be all the better for the extra time this new stat holiday gives them. Enhanced employee wellbeing truly translates to a better bottom line....even in these tough economic times.

Why should employers should invest in employee wellbeing?

From the report Healthy People, Healthy Performance, Healthy Profits: The Case for Business Action on the Socio-Economic Determinants of Health

Employers in both the private and public sectors that address the socio-economic determinants of their employees’ health and that of their families can expect lower health premiums, gains in productivity, and more success in hiring and keeping employees. In addition, businesses that recognize and develop product and service opportunities stand to make considerable profits while simultaneously improving the factors that affect population health. 

The report was published by The Conference Board of Canada based on research conducted for the Roundtable on Socio-Economic Determinants of Health.

Great new web resource supports PEI parents with young children

Parents in PEI are currently faced with a number of critical issues related to the early years and education of Island children. 

An announcement last year regarding the plan to move Kindergarten into the public school system (from the child care system) has resulted in the appointment of a Public Kindergarten Commissioner who is now holding information meetings across the Island throughout January 2009.  In addition, a report is due to be released later this week by the Eastern School Board regarding the organization of schools in that district.  Yesterday, The Guardian published an article suggesting that the report will recommend the closure of 11 small schools. 

These are just two of the key issues that Island families are facing.  In reality, there are many other challenges that families face as they try to ensure their children receive access to quality early learning, education and support options. Parents for Choice and Quality have been working to address a number of the challenges that Island parents with young children are facing.  Recently we established a new website which can be found at www.choiceandquality.com.  In a timely move, today, we also launched a formal In The News section on the site which is a compilation of various news stories, press releases and related resources organized in sections such as:

• Early Years Strategy
• Child Care and Early Learning
• Kindergarten Transition
• Education
• Public Policy

Parents and key stakeholders who are interested in keeping up to date on the many issues that impact young PEI families will find this to be a helpful resource with many centralized links.

Helpful resources related to child and family issues in BC

Here are some recently released resources that will be of interest to those involved with child and family policy, the early years and child care in BC.

State of the Child Report in Central Okanagan produced by the CATCH Coalition

• This report hightlights how young children in the Central Okanagan are doing and provides a foundation for future comparisons.

2008 Child Poverty Report Card - Published by SPARC BC, First Call and Campaign 2000

UNICEF Canada calls for many improvements in child care

Released today:

UNICEF Canada calls for measurable standards, guidelines,
appropriate funding for child care, and solutions by July 2009

Toronto, 11 December 2008 – A new study released by UNICEF states that a far-reaching change is overtaking childhood in the world’s richest countries, including in Canada. For the first time in the history of the industrialized world, a majority of the rising generation is now spending a significant part of childhood in out-of-home child care.

The Child Care Transition is the 8^th annual report card produced by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy. According to the report card, this child care revolution offers enormous potential for children, society and the economy, if sufficient supportive policies and programmes are in place.

The report card states that these changes reflect new opportunities for women’s employment outside the home. But in part, also, they reflect new necessities. And the poorer the family, the greater is the pressure to return to work as soon as possible after a birth – often to unskilled, low-paid jobs.

“High quality early childhood education and care has a huge potential to enhance children’s cognitive, linguistic, emotional and social development,” says Marta Santos Pais, Director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (IRC). “It can help boost educational achievement, limit the early establishment of disadvantage, promote inclusion, be an investment in good citizenship, and advance progress for women.”

The UNICEF report card proposes 10 benchmarks to compare the early childhood policies of the 25 most affluent countries in the world, and these benchmarks should be regarded as a first step toward establishing a set of minimum standards to facilitate good early childhood outcomes. According to the report, Sweden meets all 10 benchmarks, Norway eight, Austria five, Italy and Japan four. Ireland and Canada meet only one benchmark.

Click HERE for more...