(Ottawa, Canada – November 20, 2003) Children are more highly exposed and more vulnerable to toxins than adults. Those who care for children may inadvertently put them at risk, simply because they are not aware of environmental contaminants and their effects. Today, on National Child Day, the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF) is proud to be a member of a new partnership of leading national organizations that will be launched today to help keep children’s environments safe.

The Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment (CPCHE) will be launched this morning in a breakfast reception on Parliament Hill, hosted by Senator Landon Pearson. This affiliation of organizations concerned about children’s environmental health has pledged to work together to raise awareness of children’s environmental health issues by those people working with young children, policy makers and the public.

“The CCCF looks forward to working with leading experts on environmental health to move this important issue to the forefront, said Sandra Griffin, the executive director of CCCF. “The majority of young children in Canada are in paid child care arrangements. Without current information on environmental health, people working with young children can unknowingly put children at risk. We want to work with CPCHE and the early learning and child care sector to make children’s environments safe.”

The CCCF and CPCHE will also launch a new web portal (www.healthyenvironmentsforkids.ca) – one of the primary vehicles for informing the public of issues relating to children’s environmental health.

The CCCF is committed to improving the quality of early learning and child care services for families in Canada . Its members include 12,000 practitioners, policy makers and academics across the country. For more information on the CCCF, visit the website at www.cccf-fcsge.ca, or call 1-800-858-1412 or (613) 729-5289.

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Media Contact: Sandra Griffin, Executive Director, Canadian Child Care Federation

Tel (613) 729-5289 ext. 229 Cell (613) 290-2959 Email sgriffin@cccf-fcsge.ca