Since the late 1950s, disputes over day care programs, policies, and funding have been a recurring feature of political life in the province of Alberta.

With lively, informative contributions by both scholars and activists, Bucking Conservatism highlights the individuals and groups who challenged Alberta’s conservative status quo in the 1960s and 70s. Drawing on archival records, newspaper articles, police reports, and interviews, the contributors examine Alberta’s history through the eyes of Indigenous activists protesting discriminatory legislation and unfulfilled treaty obligations, women and lesbian and gay persons standing up to the heteropatriarchy, student activists seeking to forge a new democracy, and anti-capitalist environmentalists demanding social change. This book uncovers the lasting influence of Alberta’s noncomformists---those who recognized the need for dissent in a province defined by wealth and right-wing politics---and poses thought-provoking questions for contemporary activists.

During the twentieth century, child care policy in British Columbia matured in the shadow of a political uneasiness with working motherhood. Working Mothers and the Child Care Dilemma examines how ideas about motherhood, paid work, and social welfare influenced universal child care discussions and consistently pushed access to child care to the margins of BC’s social policy agenda. Charting the growth of the child care movement in this province, Lisa Pasolli examines the arrival of Vancouver’s first crèche in 1912, the teetering steps forward during the debates of the interwar years, the development of provincial child care policy, the rebellious advancements of second-wave feminists in the 1960s and 1970s, and the maturation of provincial and national child care politics since the mid-70s. In addition to revealing much about historical attitudes toward women’s roles, Working Mothers and the Child Care Dilemma celebrates the efforts of mothers and advocates who, for decades, have lobbied for child care as a central part of women’s rights as workers, parents, and citizens.

The history of child care its legislation and specific child care data are presented for each of the provinces.

Many women who lived through the Second World War believed it heralded new status and opportunities, but scholars have argued that very little changed. How can these interpretations be reconciled? Making the Best of It examines the ways in which gender and other identities intersected to shape the experiences of female Canadians and Newfoundlanders during the war. The contributors to this thoughtful collection consider mainstream and minority populations, girls and women, and different parts of Canada and Newfoundland. They reassess topics such as women in the military and in munitions factories, and tackle entirely new subjects such as wartime girlhood in Quebec. Collectively, these essays broaden the scope of what we know about the changes the war wrought in the lives of Canadian women and girls, and address wider debates about memory, historiography, and feminism.

A political and economic analysis of the history of working people in Alberta.

Supporting Early Childhood Practice Through Difficult Times encourages early childhood students and practitioners to take stock of current practices and pedagogies in light of challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, ecological concerns, and regulatory pressures. The contributions from various scholars and practitioners present a range of theoretical concepts as well as innovative practice examples, inviting deep reflection on your own beliefs and attitudes. They examine and envisage different ways of working with and for young children, their families and communities for a better future. Chapters in this timely book include experts from around the globe examining key issues in early childhood education. The first section questions the increasing digitalisation in nurseries and pre-schools and its impact on staff members, parents and children. The second section focuses on workforce development, management systems and the role of parents in policymaking. The third section showcases innovative pedagogical approaches looking beyond widely accepted early learning goals, assessments and curricula to develop inclusive environments that foster all children’s development and learning. Lastly, the fourth section steps back from day-to-day practice and considers what concern for the environment, social justice and posthumanism means for early childhood education and pedagogy. This book will be a key resource for early childhood education and care practitioners, graduate students, policymakers and researchers facilitating the step from the here-and-now to revised future practice and policy that will enable all children to flourish.

Examining when and why governments implement progressive childcare policies, this study takes a look at the different systems Canadians have adopted over the past five decades and argues that childcare is better understood as a public responsibility.