Province takes minor step to tackle child-care staff shortage Building Blocks, Crumbling Foundation
By: Katrina Clarke Posted: 6:51 PM CDT Friday, Jun. 28, 2024

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This article was published 28/06/2024 (820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government has quietly introduced two measures to help staff-depleted child-care centres find qualified workers in the wake of a Free Press investigation.

Emails sent to child-care facilities this past week indicate the province has added a new feature to its Early Learning and Child Care website to “help support staff recruitment efforts,” while also updating a policy that previously barred retirees from returning to work for six months.

These steps are “a good thing” but not “earth-shattering,” said Cathy Gardiner, president of the Manitoba Child Care Association, a non-profit that advocates on the behalf of 4,000 facilities in the province.

Gardiner said she would rather see the government hone in on the key issues the association wants to see change, mainly: improving staff wages, working conditions and training opportunities.

As for the new staff recruitment feature, it will allow facilities to share information about vacancies, which will then be posted via the province’s online child-care search tool. Prospective candidates can then search for job opportunities through the portal.

But Gardiner said the search tool is typically used by parents looking for child-care options. She questions if that’s where job-seekers would go to look for work.

As for the retirement policy, the province’s email to facilities stated retirees will be allowed “to return to work if and when they choose” effective July 1. The decision was made in response to “sector feedback.”

Gardiner called it a positive step forward, but not especially consequential.

However, she feels positive about the future of the sector under the NDP government.

“I do believe this government is committed to change,” she said.

A senior civil servant speaking on background said recruiting and retaining early childhood educators and child-care staff “is absolutely the No. 1 challenge.”

“We have been just laser-focused on absolutely anything we can do to grow and strengthen our workforce.”

The Manitoba Child Care Association estimates the sector is currently short 1,000 qualified early childhood educators.

The months-long Free Press investigation into the state of child care in Manitoba revealed a system in crisis. Among the findings were: a lack of transparency regarding child-care centre inspections; a failure of centres to meet minimum government standards, notably legislated staffing ratios; parents having no or little recourse when something goes wrong; a systematic inability to provide adequate care to children with special needs; and limited access to care in rural and northern regions.

As part of a five-year $1.2-billion Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, which Manitoba signed with Ottawa in 2021, the province announced the ambitious goal of creating 23,000 full-time regulated spaces by 2026, “to ensure all families of children up to six years old can access child care.”

Experts in the child-care sector say the province is far from meeting that goal. As of March, the province has created just 2,700 new spaces for children aged 0-6, a pace well-short of reaching the 23,000 goal. A provincial spokesperson said they’re on track to create 5,800 more for that age group, plus more than 4,400 school-age spaces.

Meanwhile, the province’s updated wage grid for child-care professionals, which includes a sector-wide 2.75 per cent increase, is expected to come into effect July 1.

— with files from Jeff Hamilton

katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca

Katrina Clarke
Investigative reporter

Katrina Clarke is an investigative reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press. Katrina holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Queen’s University and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University. She has worked at newspapers across Canada, including the National Post and the Toronto Star. She joined the Free Press in 2022. Read more about Katrina.

Every piece of reporting Katrina produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.