The Provincial Government has issued an expression of interest for membership on a new child care advisory panel that will help the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development improve the child care system.

The panel will consist of child care operators who will help identify challenges and offer recommendations to the Minister and department on feasible solutions to benefit all children and families.

The child care advisory panel will inform the development, implementation and oversight of child care initiatives within the province.

To ensure that overall representation reflects the diversity of child care services throughout the province, the advisory panel will consist of up to 12 members from the following:

• Representation from child care services in each of four provincial regions: Eastern, Central, Western and Labrador, with at least two of these representatives being members of NL Child Care Licensees.
• A mix of rural and urban perspectives to ensure diverse viewpoints.
• Inclusion of administrators/licensees from regulated centre-based services and family homes.
• Inclusion of Indigenous members to ensure the unique needs and perspectives of Indigenous communities are considered.
• Inclusion of francophone members to ensure the unique needs and perspectives of francophone communities are considered.

The child care advisory panel will contribute to the continued expansion and development of the child care sector by supporting high-quality, inclusive, diverse, affordable and accessible child care in the province.

Operators/licensees interested in participating are encouraged to complete the application form found here. The deadline to submit applications is July 3, 2026.

Additional questions can be sent to educommunityrelations@gov.nl.ca.

The panel is in addition to an early childhood educator steering committee that will help guide next steps towards introducing additional benefits for early childhood educators in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Budget 2026 invests close to $33 million to support child care spaces, which includes approximately 1,200 spaces in progress and the creation of an additional 400 new spaces.

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“We recognize the important role child care operators play in the lives of children and families. Child care operators have first-hand experience of the challenges families face when trying to access child care. They also have solutions on how we can improve early child care learning. Their input will help inform next steps in our plan to increase access to affordable child care for families. We look forward to engaging with everyone on this work as soon as possible.”
Honourable Paul Dinn
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development

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