“Effective April 1, the Government of Alberta will no longer administer a child care accreditation system parallel to licensing. No other province in the country duplicates licensing and accreditation.
“Eliminating accreditation lets child care providers spend more time with kids and families. Child care centre operators and workers have been clear that the accreditation process added unnecessary red tape, causing workers to spend hundreds of hours on paperwork rather than focusing on care for children.
“The safety of our children continues to be our highest priority. That’s why licensing officers will continue to enforce safety rules and regulations in licensed child care centres and licensed family day homes. This has not and will not change. We will be reviewing the Child Care Licensing Act later this year, and these changes to accreditation will be taken into consideration.
“We are committed to supporting the people who work directly with children every day. Quality child care requires a dedicated and professional workforce, which will be maintained through wage top-ups. Child care programs that were participating in accreditation have worked hard to embed the highest standards into their everyday programming – and we are confident those high standards will be maintained.
“Through Budget 2019 and Budget 2020, this government has provided an additional $21 million to low-income parents through child care subsidies, making sure those who need it most can access the workforce or pursue their education.
“We are keeping the best elements of the accreditation program – fair wages for all certified child care staff and professional development fund – and rolling them out to all licensed child care programs.
“Finally, child care operators will continue to have access to the provincial curriculum or may choose to implement a child care curriculum that meets the needs of their communities.”