Green Party of Canada
Whereas the present
GPC Childcare Policy was drafted in 1988 before the large studies of
daycare showed problems for under 3s
Whereas social justice for our youngest citizens obliges
us to meet their needs while they are most vulnerable
Whereas the three largest studies, the US NICHD-Early
Childhood Research Network, the UK Study Effective Provision of Preschool
Education, and the UK Study Families, Children and Child Care all show
an increase in aggression in under 3s in daycare, as does the Quebec
Daycare Study
see: http://daycareinfo.net/4studies.html
Whereas infant mental health specialists
acknowledge that care principally by mother is preferable to high quality
daycare for under 3s
see: http://empathicparenting.org/proposed/waip.html
Whereas surveys repeatedly show that most parents would
prefer to look after their own young children if that were possible
and the Swedish experience shows parental care is chosen by parents
over high quality daycare for the very young when there are policies
that make parental care feasible. see: http://daycareinfo.net/parentswant.html
The Green Party of Canada will develop and
support policies which enable parents to care for their own children
until age three.
Resolution passed August
25th 2006 at the Green Party of Canada 2006 Annual General Meeting -
Ottawa Congress Centre.