Transparency issues over child-care inspection reports remain despite move to digital records Child-care centre inspection reports consist of electronic PDFs, not part of central database Building Blocks, Crumbling Foundation
By: Katrina Clarke Posted: 6:31 PM CDT Friday, Jun. 28, 2024

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/06/2024 (436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s child-care inspection reports are no longer paper-based or kept in filing cabinets, but it would still take thousands of hours — and political will — for the province to make them public, the Free Press has found.

One expert said this suggests the province’s approach to record-keeping remains “archaic.” Meanwhile, the president of the Manitoba Child Care Association is calling on the government to make the reports publicly available.

Earlier this month, the Free Press revealed licensed facility inspections are shrouded in secrecy — with findings shared with individual centres but not the public, leaving parents in the dark. The information the province makes publicly available online is largely limited to the “terms and conditions” of each operation, which include infractions found during inspections, though they are often listed in confusing regulatory jargon.

And yet, this is the modernized approach.

Until 2023, the records were paper-based. Although now digital, there is no centralized database. Instead, they are kept as individual files on a departmental drive accessed by provincial child-care co-ordinators who conduct the inspections, said a senior civil servant who only agreed to speak on background.

Co-ordinators have to manually input the terms and conditions from the reports onto the province’s website, the civil servant said.

“They are electronic in that the forms are stored electronically, but it is in a PDF-type form.”

University of Manitoba ethicist Neil McArthur said it is in the public interest to make the full reports accessible.

“You’re (a parent) looking at 10 different child-care centres and you want to know which one will not electrocute my kid because it has open wiring or whatever,” McArthur said.

While parents can seek out inspection reports by requesting them from centres, they shouldn’t have to, he said. The child-care search process is already onerous enough, with wait lists of parents hoping to get into Manitoba centres stretching into the hundreds — per facility.

McArthur questions what’s stopping the province from putting reports online, especially if co-ordinators already have to take the step of manually entering data. “Build it into the workflow,” he said.

A freedom of information request suggests doing so would take thousands of hours.

Last month, the Free Press filed a request for inspection reports from 2023 — the year records were switching to digital — but was told “there are 1,157 facilities whose records would need to be searched. On average, each facility would require a minimum of 1.75 hours of search and preparation time.”

That amounts to more than 2,000 hours.

“Build it into the workflow.”–Neil McArthur

Asked why the province doesn’t make the reports public, a government spokesperson said: “There could be identifying information on the documents that would require review/potential redaction, as is required for all government records that are made public.”

The spokesperson added that if children’s “health, safety and well-being is at risk,” a licensing order, which is a more stringent oversight mechanism, is issued. These orders are made public.

The province has not committed to making the inspection reports public.

A previous Free Press request for three years of inspection reports was rejected earlier this year by the province, saying it would take 8,000 hours. Most of these reports would be paper files.

In March, as part of an ongoing investigation into the state of child care in Manitoba, the Free Press conducted its own data analysis of the 1,000-plus centres by accessing the limited information posted on the province’s website. The analysis determined that one third of all centres have “provisional” or temporary licences, which typically means inspections found they were not meeting minimum health and safety or operating standards. Failure to meet the government’s legislated staffing ratios was the most common infraction.

“We can have (centres with provisional licences) and that’s OK, it doesn’t mean we’re a crappy centre.”–Cathy Gardiner

While the online licensing information doesn’t shed light on why certain terms were put in place, the inspection reports do.

One report, viewed by the Free Press, specifically addresses the circumstances surrounding the noted regulatory infractions, stating what information was missing from the centre’s records and noting a first aid kit was within children’s reach, along with other details. There are proposed “resolutions” for each issue.

There are also sections where the child-care co-ordinators can comment on what they’ve observed during the visit.

In other provinces, such as British Columbia and Ontario, information similar to what is recorded on Manitoba’s inspection reports is made public and easy to understand.

Cathy Gardiner, president of the Manitoba Child Care Association, said the current licensing system lacks context. Parents who look at the “terms and conditions” on a provisional licence online don’t have information about what infractions were found or what the centre is doing to address them, Gardiner said.

“We can have (centres with provisional licences) and that’s OK, it doesn’t mean we’re a crappy centre,” she said. “If there is an opportunity for context or this is what we’re going to do to address this, I think that would give a more wholesome picture.”

“Maybe they don’t like what they would learn if they did data analysis.”–Neil McArthur

She gave the example of a centre that lacks natural light inside but makes sure kids get plenty of time outdoors.

She would like to see the inspections reports made public, along with a section where the centre is able to state what they are doing to address deficiencies.

The lack of a centralized database is also problematic because there is no, or only limited, ability to analyze data to understand trends, such as the extent of staffing shortages at centres, McArthur said.

“Maybe they don’t like what they would learn if they did data analysis,” he said.

The civil servant who spoke on background admits it would be beneficial to have a system that allows for broader analysis. The province does have a goal of revamping an IT system that could allow for such deeper dives, but it’s still in the “scoping phase.”

katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca

We want to hear about your experiences with Manitoba’s child-care system. Responses can be emailed to: childcare@winnipegfreepress.com

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.