THUNDER BAY — Licensed child care in the district of Thunder Bay is difficult for many to find, and many families were anticipating more spots would open up at the announcement of the $10 per day program from the provincial government.
While the District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB) has funding for the spaces, they just don't have the staff to operate them.
In order to open more of the lower-rate spaces, the TBDSSAB says over 130 trained staff are needed in licensed childcare settings.
Since the province's announcement of the $10 per day child care in March 2022, the board's waitlist for licensed spots increased by almost 24 per cent.
Recently, at a meeting in Toronto, Jim Moffat, the board's vice-chair, formally asked the province to raise the wage floor for early childhood educators to entice them to apply for open job positions.
"We were down in Toronto at ROMA and met with Patrice Barnes, parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education, and our biggest ask there was to get the salary raised to at least $30 an hour for the ECEs in order to attract more people into the field because that is a big part of the issue."
As of 2024, registered educators will be making $23.86 per hour from the planned $20 per hour, which is more than a 19 per cent increase.
Moffat said the conversation with the ministry went well.
"They're looking at having that as part of their negotiations with the federal government in order to get more funding for this."
The social services board is also hoping to continue workforce funding, said Bill Bradica, the TBDSSAB's chief administrative officer.
"We're looking for ongoing workforce development funding. This will allow us to partner with organizations like the college to offer fast-track programs to people who might already be working in the child care field but don't have their designation yet. There was some money that was provided last year, but that needs to continue to attract people to the field."
A report published by TBDSSAB shows for the 2023 graduating year of early childhood education at Confederation College, 29 of 35 have secured employment in the sector either part or full-time.
The report also said over the last six years there have been 10 interested parties for licensed spaces. One new non-profit child care program opened as a result of that - however, in the same time frame, two programs closed.
The report states: "This contributed to a net gain of 15 infant spaces, a net loss of three toddler spaces and 17 preschool spaces."
In 2018, the child care program at Kakabeka Falls Public School closed because of staffing issues, which left the area with no child care centre.
TBDSSAB wants to open 223 spaces between now and 2026, which includes 49 school-based spaces and 174 in the community.
The administration board is also looking into partnering more with the college to offer specific credits to high school students that would apply to the college's ECE program in advance of graduating high school.
"Hopefully more money will be provided in the future to be able to do that first," Bradica said, adding that more people need to be hired.
"We can be given all the funding there is, but without more people in the field we just won't be able to take it up.
"We're primarily looking at if any expansion is going to happen - it would be with private home child care settings," he said.
"To significantly increase the number of spaces available, there's going to be more funding required, not only operationally but also on the capital side. The province has indicated that a new funding model is being developed, and we think it's going to be released in the fall."
