For working parents with young children, daycare is an essential. However, for a growing number of families across Canada, finding a spot may feel more like a luxury.
Mother Joanna Cowley is in a situation that thousands of Canadians are facing. Her maternity leave ends in June and she’s scheduled to return to her job as a nurse, but she can’t find a daycare spot for her infant son, Jack.
Cowley has been working the phones trying to find Jack a spot since he was two months old. So far, the earliest opening for Jack appears to be in late September, she says.
Sometimes those calls can be disheartening. Cowley says that when she called child care centres, “Some say ‘we’re not even taking a waitlist,’ and some are a two year wait.”
One of the driving factors that appears to be putting pressure on the demand for daycare is the rollout of the Federal Governments $10/day Early Learning Child Care program. The cost to enroll a child in daycare has decreased, but demand appears to be outpacing the creation of new spaces.
Recently released Statistics Canada data shows that the number of parents reporting challenges in finding childcare spiked to 49 per cent in 2023, up from 36 per cent in 2019.
Cowley says that, if she can’t return to work, she and her husband will find themselves in a difficult financial situation.
“I feel like I’ve been a bit of an ostrich, like head in the sand, hoping that it's magically going to get better, but it’s been very, very stressful,” said the mother of two.
Some child-care advocates say growing pains are to be expected as a publically funded system gets up and running.
“It’s going to take some time,” said Canadian Child Care Federations Interim CEO Marni Flaherty.
“There’s been a waiting list for 40 years, and there’s even a bigger waiting list now as we roll out the plan. It’s going to take a while,” said Flaherty, who added, “The good news is we have a federal commitment. Now, our provinces need to ensure they’re investing properly. It’s their job to do that.”
For parents like Cowley, Flaherty says they may have to deal with discomfort so future families can reap the full benefits of a publically-funded system.
Cowley maintained that “the government needs to look at this and realize this is a huge burden for people trying to return back to work,” especially during difficult financial times.
“As the first national program of its kind, we are aware of the current challenges in finding affordable child care, that’s why we are working to create 250,000 new spaces for Canadian families,” reads an email from the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development's office.
One of the keys to unlocking new spaces and relieving the pressure, according to Flaherty, is licensed home-based centres.
“The model of home child care should be an agency model so that there’s infrastructure built-in in order to have licensed home child care, so you have early childhood educators overseeing homes within neighbourhoods,” said Flaherty.
“The increase in demand represents an opportunity for our government to work collaboratively with service providers, stakeholders, and provinces and territories to ensure that more families can access affordable child care, faster,” wrote the minister's office.
With files from The Canadian Press
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