Excerpts:
I imagine that one of the first questions that come to mind when you look at the title of this article is "What does "internal trade" have to do with child care?". The short answer is that the link is through the people working in the Child Care Sector and how they can move more easily from one province or territory to another.
The Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) was first signed in 1994 by federal, provincial and territorial governments in an effort to eliminate unnecessary barriers to the movement of workers, goods, services and investments within Canada. Chapter 7 of the agreement deals with "Labour Mobility" directly. Labour mobility is the ability of people in a workforce to move to and work in a different province or territory. In 2009 some amendments were made to Chapter 7 of the agreement and a timeframe was given to the provinces and territories to ensure labour mobility for workers in regulated or certified occupations. A regulated occupation is one in which you must hold a specific certification to work in that sector.
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In many workforce sectors, certification or credentialing is required to practice or work in their field - this holds true for everything from plumbers, to doctors, to school teachers. Some sectors have a national certification system or national exam that allows them to practice in their field anywhere in Canada - the Child Care Sector (like some other sectors) does not have a national system or exam.
For the Child Care Sector, where credentialing systems exist, they are a provincial or territorial jurisdiction - in other words, the province or territory oversees the requirements for people to work in the sector. To complicate matters a little further, some credentialing systems are voluntary and some are mandatory. Some are directly administered by the provincial or territorial government and some are administered through a provincial or territorial non government organization.
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Chapter 7 of the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) allows for inter-provincial / territorial recognition of credentialing to work in the Child Care Sector in those provinces and territories where credentialing is regulated in order to work. This eases the movement of the child care workforce between those provinces and territories that fall under the AIT.