Excerpts
TORONTO — New federal rules would prevent international students who graduate from early childhood education programs from applying for a work permit in Canada — a change that the Ontario government, colleges and advocates warn will kneecap the growth of Ottawa’s signature $10-a-day child-care program.
Under immigration changes announced last month, the postgraduate work permits, which were widely available in the past, will now be restricted to areas that have labour-market shortages in Canada.
Ontario is facing a shortage of early childhood educators, or ECEs, that some child-care operators say is preventing them from operating at full capacity right now and could stop them from opening new spaces in the future.
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Internal government documents previously obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request show that the province expects a shortage of 8,500 ECEs by 2026.
Public colleges currently have 5,300 international ECE students enrolled, Evans said, which is about 50 per cent of total enrolments.
Alana Powell, the executive director of the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario, has been seeking clarity about the impacts of the federal changes, and said if international student ECE graduates are excluded from accessing work permits, it will be a blow to the sector.
“We are experiencing a workforce crisis,” she said.
“Ongoing retention and recruitment of early childhood educators in Ontario continues to be a concern, and it’s concern for current operational levels, let alone planned expansion under the $10-a-day system. So to see any sort of barrier in place for bringing more early childhood educators into the workforce is a big problem at a time like this.”
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