Sudbury celebrates child-care workers

Greater Sudbury celebrated the 25th annual Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day at an event on Tuesday.

The City of Greater Sudbury celebrated the 25th annual Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day on Tuesday.

“Doing a proclamation kind of just raises the awareness, right?” said Mayor Paul Lefevbre.

“Saying that as a city, we thank you, and we declare this day an early childhood educator day and so I think the fact that we’re going to acknowledge the importance of that work and those workers.”

Kim Mantulak from the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare said the day is a celebration.

“We celebrate the work that these folks are doing in our communities every single day,” Mantulak said.

“But we also know that we need to advocate. We really need the governments to work together to continue the plan so that we can make sure that these folks that are working in these programs can stay in the programs that we need to make sure that we have an investment in the workforce so that they can continue caring for our communities the way they do.”

Care for $10 a day

In 2022, the federal government lowered child-care fees to an average of $10 a day. However, in Sudbury alone, there are more than 3,600 children aged five and under on the waitlist -- and just more than 750 on the waitlist ages 6-12.

The city also estimates there will be a wait time of two years for many on the list. Mantulak added that the plan is set to expire in March 2026.

The independent authors’ report regarding the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Childcare Program said that in 2026, an additional 10,000 registered early childhood educators could be needed by December 2026.

“We have about 160 days left for our provincial government to re-sign that agreement, to make sure that we can continue having the benefits to families, children, workers, the economy in general, to ensure that we have proper funding and stable funding for our child-care plan,” Mantulak said.

Lefebvre said it’s important to have more people able to join the workforce if the local economy is to grow.

“So that’s why early childhood education and the educators in spaces are key to making that happen,” he said.

“That’s why, when I was (an) MP, we actually started that program federally and in partnership with the provinces. So we’re all hoping that that continues because this investment is a long-term investment for our country.”

CTV News Northern Ontario contacted the Minister of Education, Paul Calandra, for a comment on the ongoing negotiations, but we didn’t receive a response by the deadline.