Province given failing grade on child care

Saskatchewan gets an “F” in child care, according to a new report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The report, titled Saskatchewan’s Failing Report Card on Child Care, was co-authored by Courtney Carlberg and Jen Budney.

Budney is a post-doctoral fellow at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan, and Carlberg holds a master’s of arts in sociology from the U of S.

One of the report’s main concerns is a lack of funding and a lack of available licensed childcare spaces.

“We are the worst in Canada in terms of funding and spaces,” Carlberg said in an interview this week, noting there are only spaces for 18 per cent of children ages five and under.

But 70 per cent of the province’s mothers of children in this age group are part of the workforce, according to the report. Carlberg said that leaves many mothers without the option of putting their kids into licensed child care.

However, Kim Taylor, a director in the early education branch of the Ministry of Education, said the province is investing and is focused on improving access to licensed child care.

“We signed the Canada-saskatchewan Early Child Care Learning Agreement in March of 2018, and that is a three-year agreement with an investment of almost $41 million over those three years,” she said.

“Through this agreement we’ve actually had a substantial increase since 2007 of 6,839 new child-care spaces, so that’s actually a 73-per-cent increase.”

The province confirmed there are currently only spaces for 18 per cent of children ages five and under. International standards laid out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development say that number should be 25 per cent for children ages three and under, and 80 per cent for four-year-olds, notes the report.

OUTDATED MINDSET

Carlberg believes at the core of some of the province’s childcare issues is an outdated mindset that men typically have a full-time job while women stay home to look after children.

“Our policies haven’t really changed since they were introduced, so it hasn’t changed with the times as more women are going into the workplace,” she said.

“They haven’t changed the policies to reflect the changing nature of society.”

The report’s authors suggest that while all families struggle under the current child-care system, those most negatively affected include families living in rural and remote areas, Indigenous families, single parents, parents doing shift, contract or seasonal work and low-income families generally.

Among the report’s recommendations, the authors suggest more appropriate funding, overhauling the current subsidy system, mandatory wages for early childhood educators and early childhood assistants, and moving responsibility for all child care and early learning policies to a single ministry.

Taylor said the province is committed to developing both child care and the labour market, and that policies are being adapted to meet the needs of a changing workforce.

“You can see that through space development, training for early childhood educators, creating access to resources to implement high-quality programs,” she said.

“So I would say that is the direction of the early years branch and the Government of Saskatchewan.”