Excerpt from executive summary:

This report is an assessment of the Ontario government's response to the Early Years Study requested by the former Premier of Ontario, Michael Harris. The report consists of seven sections:

1. Introduction
2. A review of international initiatives in early child development [ECD]
3. The September 11, 2000 communiqué of the Government of Canada on early child development
4. The new scientific evidence
5. The status of Ontario's preschool children
6. The Government of Ontario's response to the recommendations in the Early Years Study
7. Considerations for the Government of Ontario

The main conclusion from this review is that a number of initiatives in different parts of the world recognize that ECD (early child development) is a key step in human development trajectories that are set in the early years and tend to carry on through education into adult life in respect to health, learning and behaviour. Thus, the theme of this document is "From early child development to human development: Enabling communities".