Moose Jaw early years forum includes Canadian, international experts

Nobel laureate Dr. James Heckman will be among the many experts coming to Moose Jaw this May for a comprehensive conference on early childhood development (ECD).

Heckman, the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, will be the keynote speaker for Imagine Our Future – Investing in the Early Years, May 9 to 11.

The Moose Jaw Early Childhood Coalition is hosting the conference. Among those joining Heckman will be Dr. Stuart Shanker, Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at York University; Dr. Clyde Hertzman from UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership; Jim Grieve, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ontario ELD; and Dr. Jean Clinton, McMaster University.

Hertzman will deliver the opening address on the Wednesday evening. He will talk about the importance of the early years, the state of ECD in Canada, and its trends across place and time based upon a decade of measurement using the Early Development Instrument. This will lead to a discussion about the role of policy at the national and provincial level, as well as community factors, in determining the state of ECD.

Other speakers will discuss the neuroscience of ECD, social determinants of health and their effect on development in the early years and Ontario’s experience with full-day kindergarten. There will be many other discussions and a trade show.

• Imagine Our Future – Investing in the Early Years takes place at Moose Jaw’s Mosaic Place (110 1st Ave. NW). Registration is now open on the event website. For more information, contact imagineourfuture@fhhr.ca.

By Mike Chouinard, kidSKAN managing editor. He can be reached at mike.chouinard@usask.ca.