Dr Margo Greenwood, Northern Health’s VP of Indigenous Health, has been appointed to the federal Expert Panel on Early Learning and Child Care by the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.
The Expert Panel’s mandate comes directly from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and aims to increase the quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility, and inclusivity of early learning and child care with consideration for families that need child care the most.
The Expert Panel will be a forum to facilitate in-depth discussions on issues related to early learning and child care information, data, and research to support the honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. The mandate includes lower income families, Indigenous families, lone-parent families, families in underserved communities, those working non-standard hours, and or/children with varying abilities.
The Panel brings together a diverse group of leaders, practitioners, Indigenous representatives, and experts in early learning and child care. The 14 panelists were chosen from over 220 Canadian and international nominees. During the selection process, it was important that the panel be representative of Canada’s diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity, Indigenous identities, regions, and official languages, as well as early learning and child care needs.
The Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Métis National Council were invited to propose representatives who would take part in and engage with the Expert Panel and make linkages to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis data and research.
The Expert Panel will operate for 18 months and provide advice on the development of an early learning and child care data and research strategy. The strategy will identify innovative approaches to encourage high-quality early learning and child care, and to offer advice on how to align the objectives of the work on the Expert Panel with other Government priorities.
Margo’s work focuses on the health and well-being of Indigenous children and families. She has worked as a frontline caregiver of early childhood services; designed early childhood curriculum, programs, and evaluations; and taught early childhood education courses at both the college and university levels. Margo has also served on numerous national and provincial federations, committees and assemblies. She’s undertaken work with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations, and the Canadian Reference Group to the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants.
Currently, Margo splits her time between her work with the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health, where she is the academic lead, and Northern Health, where she is the VP of Indigenous Health. Her current research interests include:
- The development of early childhood education programs and services in Canada from the past and present.
- How health can be affected by social and economic factors with a focus on colonization and children’s rights.
- How children form their cultural identity and the exploration of Indigenous ways of knowledge and ways of being.