Chamber
pei
Stage
Introduced
This PEI bill strengthens child care licensing rules by allowing licence refusals during investigations and requiring sexual misconduct policies.
Key Changes
- The Child Care Board can refuse to process new or renewal licence applications if an associated person is under investigation or charged with an offence related to child safety
- The Board can refuse to process certification or certification renewal applications under the same circumstances
- Applications not completed within set timeframes (one year for new applications, three months for renewals) can be refused
- All licensed child care centres must establish a written sexual misconduct prevention and response policy within one year of the law taking effect
- Sexual misconduct is formally defined in the Act to include assault, exploitation, harassment, stalking, indecent exposure, voyeurism, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images
- Gendered language throughout the Act is replaced with gender-neutral language
Gotchas
- The Board's power to refuse to 'consider' an application is different from outright denial — it allows the process to be paused while an investigation or legal proceeding is ongoing, not necessarily permanently blocked
- The bill does not specify what happens to an existing licence or certification if an associated person becomes the subject of an investigation after approval — the suspension provisions address this separately
- The definition of 'associated person' is not fully detailed in the excerpted text, which may affect how broadly the investigation-based refusal powers apply
- Regulations can add further circumstances under which the Board may refuse applications, meaning the full scope of refusal powers may expand beyond what is written in the bill itself
- The sexual misconduct policy requirement applies to operators but the bill does not specify minimum content standards for the policy — those may be set through future regulations
- The Act comes into force by proclamation, meaning the government chooses when it takes effect, which could delay implementation
Who's Affected
- Operators of licensed child care centres in Prince Edward Island
- Early childhood educators and staff seeking certification
- The PEI Child Care Board (which administers licences and certifications)
- Parents and children using licensed child care services
- Individuals associated with child care centres who are under investigation or facing charges
Vibes
0 responses
Gotchas
- The Board's power to refuse to 'consider' an application is different from outright denial — it allows the process to be paused while an investigation or legal proceeding is ongoing, not necessarily permanently blocked
- The bill does not specify what happens to an existing licence or certification if an associated person becomes the subject of an investigation after approval — the suspension provisions address this separately
- The definition of 'associated person' is not fully detailed in the excerpted text, which may affect how broadly the investigation-based refusal powers apply
- Regulations can add further circumstances under which the Board may refuse applications, meaning the full scope of refusal powers may expand beyond what is written in the bill itself
- The sexual misconduct policy requirement applies to operators but the bill does not specify minimum content standards for the policy — those may be set through future regulations
- The Act comes into force by proclamation, meaning the government chooses when it takes effect, which could delay implementation
Summary
This bill amends Prince Edward Island's Early Learning and Child Care Act to give the provincial Child Care Board new powers to pause or refuse processing licence and certification applications in certain situations. Specifically, if someone associated with a child care centre is under investigation, charged with an offence, or involved in a proceeding suggesting they may be unsuitable to work with children, the Board can hold off on processing their application until the matter is resolved. The Board can also refuse to process applications that are incomplete after a set period of time. The bill also requires all licensed child care centres to create a formal policy on preventing and responding to sexual misconduct within one year of the law coming into force. Sexual misconduct is broadly defined to include assault, exploitation, harassment, stalking, indecent exposure, voyeurism, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Additionally, the bill updates the language throughout the existing Act to replace gendered terms (like 'he or she') with gender-neutral language, and fixes some minor typos and cross-references in the existing law.
Automatically generated from bill text using Claude
Vibes
0 responses