Conférence des Premiers ministres de l’Ouest, 2001

MOOSE JAW, May 31, 2001 -- Western Premiers reviewed the status of a number of children's initiatives and emphasized the ongoing priority that all western provinces and territories place on ensuring child wellbeing and healthy child development.

Western Premiers expressed their commitment to ensuring full implementation of the September 2000 First Ministers' accord on Early Childhood Development (ECD), in which governments agreed to focus action in four key areas: healthy pregnancy, birth, and infancy; parenting and family supports; early childhood development and care; and community supports. They directed their Health and Social Services Ministers to continue their implementation work, and called on the federal government to ensure that early childhood development programs for Aboriginal children, on and off reserve, be implemented quickly and extensively to fully complement provincial/territorial ECD initiatives. There is a lack of sufficient federal funding for child and family services preventive programs on-reserve in a number of jurisdictions, and western Premiers called on the federal government to follow through immediately on its commitment to Premiers last September, as well as in the January 2001 Throne Speech to improve and expand Early Childhood Development programs and services available in Aboriginal communities.

Western Premiers expressed their ongoing commitment to addressing the serious issue of fetal alcohol syndrome. They noted the ongoing work of their Health and Social Services Ministers through the Prairie/Northern Partnership on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and encouraged their Ministers to increase their efforts to ensure children get a good start in life.

Western Premiers indicated their continued support for the National Child Benefit (NCB) initiative and endorsed the NCB Progress Report: 2000 released by federal/provincial/territorial Social Services Ministers last month. At last year's Annual Premiers' Conference, Premiers called on Social Services Ministers to provide an assessment of child poverty trends, an assessment of the NCB in meeting its objectives and recommendations on further investments to achieve full implementation. This report will be discussed this August at the 2001 Annual Premiers' Conference. Western Premiers noted the federal Throne Speech commitment to continue to invest in the NCB over the next four years. They urged the federal government to continue building on this investment to ensure success in meeting the long-term objectives of preventing and reducing the depth of child poverty and increasing labour market participation.

Note: Mr. Gordon Campbell, Premier-elect of British Columbia, attended the 2001 Western Premiers' Conference. However, in his current role as Premier-elect, Mr. Campbell was unable to give the official endorsement of the Province of British Columbia to the positions and commitments outlined in this Communiqué.

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