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My Priorities and Solutions 

Image by Matese Fields

Priority #4

STRONG EDUCATION
STRONG FUTURE

EARLY LEARNING AND CHILDCARE

“Access to high-quality, flexible and inclusive child care is not a luxury, it's a necessity. Every child and family deserves access to one.” 

Women and families are the cornerstone of our society. Without access to child care, parents (mostly women) cannot work” and cannot contribute to supporting their families, advancing their careers and growing the economy- this is not the direction we want to continue in  

 

Yellowknife and the territory as a whole are chronically under-serviced with little access to daycare and day home spaces. The NWT is losing families that are moving out of the territory because of lack of access to childcare 

 

Families are waiting years to find out if they will ever get their kids into daycare

 

Daycare and dayhome operators are closing their doors because of high operating costs, inadequate staffing capacity, and government red tape. This is the last thing families need at a time when everyone is struggling to keep up with the growing cost of living. We need to do better.

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Solutions

EARLY LEARNING AND CHILDCARE

  • Government needs to cut red tape and work with daycare and day home operators to identify and increase capacity within existing daycares immediately
     

  • There is an immediate need for childcare space infrastructure in Yellowknife. The GNWT can do a better job of lobbying the federal government's $10 a day commitment to get new infrastructure. There is no $10 day- daycare without access. 

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  • Eliminate the forceful participation clause in the retention incentive funding program that requires licensed daycare and day home operators to participate or become ineligible to receive other early learning child care funding from the GNWT. These kinds of measures only end up costing families who are left with little choice  
     

  • End the attendance-based funding model and transition into capacity-based funding. This will allow daycare and day homes to meet their operational and capacity needs leading to more spaces for families 

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  • The current GNWT subsidy structure does not keep up with inflation. Licensed daycares and day homes are currently funded based on attendance instead of registered spaces. This is not sustainable and causing many daycares and day homes to shut down 
     

  • Delay the introduction of the early childhood educator’s certification program requirement for daycare workers. Such a program will only further strain a sector that is already at the brink of breaking     

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