MINDEMOYA—The province of Ontario needs to ensure childcare workers are recognized properly, with proper pay and benefits, and that initiatives implemented by the province may work in southern Ontario, but they don’t necessarily work in Northern Ontario. That’s the message Manitoulin Family Resources (MFR) is hoping to bring to the province of Ontario.
“If the province truly believes childcare is important, they need to invest in it,” Diana St. Pierre, MFR’s children’s services program director told Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha at a Child Care Day of Action the MPP attended on June 20. “My dream is that every family should have access and a right to childcare.”
“I agree,” stated MPP Mantha.
“We have to support the little ones learning their way in the world,” said Amanda Roy, Little Current Childcare supervisor. “We teach them how to be independent, how to be sociable and get along, express their feelings, and how to survive with two adults in a room with 30 kids.”
MFR representatives, employees and board members of MFR Childrens Services Program met with MPP Mantha last week.
“We are facing a crisis in childcare, not just our region but across the board,” said Ms. St. Pierre. She said to deliver on the promise of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system to families, “we need governments to ensure better pay, better quality, better access.” “The CWELCC plan offers to create access to families with a promise of a $10 a day fee for families, which is great for families, but only if they can access it,” MFR representatives told MPP Mantha. “The plan lacks the resources to support the staffing needs to fill childcare programs and without staff, childcare isn’t accessible. And without childcare, parents can’t work.”
“The only way to solve the childcare workforce shortage is with decent work and pay,” said Ms. St. Pierre. The wage floor for early childhood educators (ECEs) is only $19 an hour and a $1 annual increase is not enough to attract and retain childcare workers and doesn’t even apply to assistants and other program staff.
“We are not able to recruit and retain ECEs or educators in the North,” said Ms. St. Pierre. Childcare programs aren’t running at capacity because they cannot be staffed. “To ensure access for more families educators are needed to staff the spaces we have now and more to work in expanded programs.”
“We need a recruitment strategy for every childcare worker, with decent work and higher pay,” said Ms. St. Pierre. “Our waiting list is 100 or more (for families wanting their children to be part of the program), and this is just for our agency. And we have parents who have been on the waiting list to have their children here for two or three years.”
“What is happening is that new parents can access child care for $10 but we can’t find enough staff to hire. Meanwhile, our waitlist is increasing,” said Ms. St. Pierre. “And we have people that want to staff these programs but when they see what the wage rate is they say no.”
“In discussions with staff they will tell me can work less hours in retail and full-time as an ECE and they are getting paid more,” said Ms. Roy.
MPP Mantha said the government is implementing lots of programs and enhancements that are geared to the private section and not the public sector. “The reality is what works in the south doesn’t necessarily work in the North. If agencies like MFR are not able to recruit or keep employees there is a gap. Not everyone can do the jobs that childcare workers can do.”
“A one size fits all system doesn’t fit for everyone,” said Suzanne Norris, a member of the MFR board.
“If we are not here to provide these services all other work sectors fail as well if parents can’t get to work because there is no childcare accessible for their children,” said Ms. Roy.
MFR said the province needs to commit to a strategy to solve the childcare workforce shortage. Any childcare workforce strategy needs to include a real salary scale starting at $25 per hour for all childcare workers and $30-$40 per hour for registered early childhood educators (RECEs), benefits and pensions, paid sick days, professional development time, paid programming time and decent work standards.
“Housing is another big issue,” said Ms. St. Pierre. “Many of the interviews we conduct with potential employees they indicate they want to move to the Island but there is no housing.”
“What would be the biggest message I could bring back to Minister Stephen Lecce?” asked MPP Mantha.
“I would like to see good wages and benefits for RECEs and all childcare workers,” said Ms. St. Pierre.
“And we need proper funding, consistent year after year funding, to know how much we will be receiving each year,” said Ms. Norris. She said MFR is constantly chasing funding on a yearly basis, and it is cumbersome for administration.
It was pointed out provincial funding has been flatlined, while other provinces add their own resources into their childcare systems. The Ontario economy is benefiting from federal investment and can afford to increase provincial funding to make this system a success.
“If the province truly believes in childcare it needs to invest in this sector,” said Ms. St. Pierre.
MPP Mantha said he would bring the concerns raised forward. “I hear you loud and clear.”
