Please send me one copy in french.

Thank you

Denise Simard, Dt.P.
272 Westgate
Rosemère (Qc) Canada
J7A 2E9

NCW wrote:

> Here is a copy of the National Council of Welfare's comments to the HRD
> committee on June 11, 1998.  We can send this out to anyone in hard copy,
> with the charts that I had on the original.  Just e-mail me for hard copies
> in English or French (or fax us at 613-957-0680) .
>
> We suspected that we might not get an opportunity to say all of this, so we
> handed this statement out at the session.
>
> There was very little opportunity for discussion with such a big group of
> experts and such a short session.  You should be aware that although some
> of the speakers did support the emphasis on early brain development, early
> intervention, many of us opposed the idea of creating a new focus for
> children's work given the underlying issues (such as child poverty, etc.),
> and many of us raised objections to the readiness-to-learn orientation of
> the session.    Read especially Martha Friendly and Sharon Hope Irwin's
> comments.
>
> FOR RELEASE AT 9 A.M., JUNE 11, 1998
>
> Notes for a Presentation to the
>
> STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
>
> by Armand Brun, Vice-Chairperson
>
> National Council of Welfare
>
> June 11, 1998
>
>         Good morning ladies and gentlemen.  I’m Armand Brun from Shediac, New
> Brunswick, the vice-chairperson of the National Council of Welfare.  With
> me this morning is Joanne Roulston, the Council researcher.  I want to
> thank the Committee for its invitation to speak about preschool children
> and readiness to learn.  These are issues of great interest to the Council,
> and they are of particular interest to me after many years of involvement
> with children and youth as a teacher and school principal.
>
>         The National Council of Welfare is a citizens’ advisory body to the
> Minister of Human Resources Development.  Its mandate is to advise the
> Minister on issues of concern to poor people.  The Council’s advice
> normally takes the form of reports to the Minister, which are also
> distributed free of charge to the general public.
>
>         The Council has made families with children a priority for the next few
> years.  Last year, the Council published a report called Healthy Parents,
> Healthy Babies, which made several recommendations about best practices for
> children’s programming.  We have made copies of the report available for
> the Committee members.  We are now working on a follow-up report on
> preschool children which we plan to publish this fall.
>
>         There are three recommendations we would like to make to this Committee
> regarding programs for young children.
>
>   The most important point is that all initiatives for children and
> families must be part of a comprehensive and integrated approach.
>
>         Over the last few years, the federal, provincial and territorial
> governments have introduced many programs for children and families.  At a
> federal level, these include the Community Action Program for Children, the
> Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, Aboriginal Head Start, the Child Tax
> Benefit and its re-investment funds, and the newly announced Crime
> Prevention Centre funding.  We are here today discussing yet another
> approach to early childhood: readiness-to-learn.  Most of these ideas make
> pretty good sense, and we are glad that the federal, provincial and
> territorial governments, and this Committee in particular, are taking an
> interest in the welfare of children.  However, as long as there is no
> national family policy to weave all these pieces together, many
> opportunities will be lost.
>
>         Until a national family policy exists, programs such as the Canada Child
> Tax Benefit will always be faced with obstacles.  The Canada Child Tax
> Benefit is intended to encourage parents on welfare to find work, but until
> it has the support of good labour policies that make sure that there are
> jobs that pay adequately to support workers and their families, and good
> policies that provide affordable and high quality child care, the program
> will always struggle to meet its objectives.
>
>         The Council believes that the federal, provincial and territorial
> governments should take the lead from the work of the government of Quebec.
>  In that province, child benefits, taxation, welfare reform and child care
> have been woven together to create one comprehensive family policy.  Within
> a few years, child care will be available for all preschool children in
> Quebec at a cost of $5 a day.
>
>  The second point we want to raise is that social programs, no matter how
> good they are, cannot replace income security.
>
>         Children are poor because their families are poor, and children’s welfare
> is inextricably tied to the welfare of their families and the communities
> they live in.  The poorest families in Canada are families headed by women
> who are single parents, and the poorest among these families are very young
> single mothers.
>
>         Although the rest of the economy enjoyed modest growth in the five years
> after the last recession, the poverty rates of single-parent mothers rose
> to 61.4 percent by 1996, and child poverty rates reached 20.9 percent, the
> highest rate in 17 years.  Since 1989, when the House of Commons resolved
> unanimously to eradicate child poverty by 2000, Canadian children have
> become poorer.
>
>         Studies have shown again and again that socio-economic status is the most
> significant determinant of people’s health.  Children from poor families
> are disadvantaged in many ways.  We know that one of the solutions to
> resolving other social problems such as crime and violence lies in ensuring
> that children get a good start in life.
>
>         Several American studies have proven that children from very disadvantaged
> families can be given tremendous help when they are enrolled in very high
> quality preschool programs.  Results from programs like the Perry Preschool
> in Michigan or the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina show that children
> who experience high quality preschool benefit from many advantages over
> other children from similar backgrounds.  The Perry Preschool researchers
> estimate that the value to society of these improvements is worth over $7
> for every dollar spent on the preschool programming.
>
>         These results are exciting, but it is important to remember that these
> programs are designed to treat and repair the damage caused by the severe
> disadvantage that poverty creates.  The National Council of Welfare
> believes that the federal government must ensure that children are not
> placed at the level of risk that makes the widespread use of these kind of
> programs necessary.
>
>         Some children and families will always need the extra help of
> high-quality, intense treatment programs.  However, strong income security
> programs and labour policies must provide the foundation of a family policy
> that ensures that parents get the supports they need to raise themselves
> and their families out of poverty.
>
>         Just three months ago, we learned that Ontario is cutting an allowance for
> pregnant women on welfare and replacing it with a service.  This kind of
> practice undermines parents’ abilities to take care of their families’
> needs and is simply unacceptable.
>         The fact is that welfare incomes for all recipients are inadequate
> everywhere in Canada.  Although services and programs for families with
> children can be helpful, the most important and urgently needed support for
> poor families is income support.
>
>  This brings us to the last point:  national standards for social programs.
>
>         The National Council of Welfare has made repeated recommendations that
> there be firm guarantees by the federal, provincial and territorial
> governments to respect minimum national standards for welfare.  That alone
> would go a long way to reducing the risks that poor children face.
>
>         The results from the studies of American preschool programs show that the
> key to their success is that these programs are of a very high quality,
> with adequate resources to provide highly trained and skilled staff to work
> with the children and their parents.  Studies of early childhood care and
> education in Canada and around the world have proven that high quality care
> is essential for optimal early childhood development.
>
>         It is clear that good programming for children and their families has to
> vary according the needs of children, their families and their communities,
> but it is also clear that without national standards, children in some
> parts of Canada will fare far worse than others.
>
>         The National Council of Welfare believes that it is essential that the
> federal, provincial and territorial governments create national standards
> for programs for children and families.  Programs must be given adequate
> funding to ensure that they can provide the quality and the stability
> essential to providing the best possible start to a child’s life.  And
> governments’ commitments to these programs must be maintained so that
> children and families do not suffer every time a new government reshapes
> programs for purely political or ideological reasons.
>
>         On behalf of the other members of the National Council of Welfare, I would
> like to thank you for the opportunity to discuss these important issues.
>
> Chart of child poverty
>
> ----------
> > From: Sam Lanfranco <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Canadian Children Prenatal to 6 Years - Readiness to Learn
> > Date: September 1, 1998 3:50 PM
> >
> > On June 11, 1998, the House of Commons Standing Committee on
> > Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with
> > Disabilities was used as a venue for a four hour Roundtable
> > on (Canadian National) Children Prenatal to 6 Years -
> > Readiness to Learn. The full transcript of that meeting is
> > at:
> >
> > http://interparl.parl.gc.ca/InfocomDoc/HRPD/Meetings/Evidence/
> > HRPDEV40-E.htm   (note that the URL is line-wrapped)
> >
> > Liberal M.P. John Godfrey has a summary of the discussion on
> > his web site: http://www.johngodfrey.org/roundtable.htm
> >
> > These discussions are likely to shape (or reflect) Federal
> > thinking with regard to the funding of services aimed at the
> > wellbeing of children in the prenatal to six age bracket,
> > and to shape the Federal position when negotiating with the
> > Provinces.
> >
> > It would be useful for CLICK4HP if several of the CLICK4HP
> > subscribers dug into the discussion and captured the main
> > points and contested areas for the benefit of others on this
> > list, and for the benefit of the wellbeing of children
> > across Canada. Any takers?
> >
> > Sam Lanfranco, CLICK4HP ListMgt
> > Distributed Knowledge
> > <[log in to unmask]>
> >
> >