Province hopes legislative changes will cut long waitlists for subsidized childcare

The province is making legislative changes in hopes of build additional capacity for the federally-subsidized $10 a day childcare spaces across Saskatchewan.

On Monday, the province announced a series of amendments to the Child Care Act to allow for greater access to affordable early learning and childcare.

“This is one of the pressures that we're facing in our province,” Education Minister Everett Hindley said.

“The legislative changes that we have introduced we feel will help with that, and help us to be able to try to find and create more childcare spaces in this province to address some of the waiting lists, pressures and demand that we have right across Saskatchewan.”

The goal is to not only expand an organization’s ability to develop more spaces while also allowing more spaces to become licensed with “alternative child-care services,” the province said in a news release.

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Amendments announced Monday allow for increases to the number of children in a group family childcare home — a residence where childcare services are provided — from 12 children to 16 children, while also cleaning up certain language and realigning certain definitions.

The province will also include preschools providing up to three hours of childcare per day in the act.

“We need to make sure that we are working with the sector closely, that we're trying to do with what they're asking of us, and make sure that we do so in an approach that's both balanced but also is achievable,” Hindley said.

Sue Delanoy has been advocating for increased child-care capacity and improvements for decades. While Monday’s announced changes are welcome news to her, she’s cautiously optimistic about their overall impact.

“The workforce isn't there, we don't pay people enough money to stay in it, so all the balls need to be kicking at all times for this to really work,” Delanoy said.

“Bottom line is it's good news [and a] cautionary tale on how they do it, and some challenges to go forward.”

Childcare advocate Sue Delanoy. (Keenan Sorokan / CTV News)

Delanoy said her main takeaway is the increase in group family childcare homes. She isn’t so confident all homes will be able to handle the increase, and she’d rather see the province put its support behind agencies providing childcare as opposed to individual business owners.

“Not all homes can handle up to 16 children. Maybe some homes can. I also think that the province would be wise to really look at more of an agency model rather than just licensing individuals, because that individual then owns the asset,” she said.

Beginning Feb. 1, 2022, Saskatchewan families with children under six years old in provincially licensed childcare spaces were given a fee reduction grant to more closely align the province with the federal government’s promise to provide $10 a day child-care.

Hindley says the province has added 13,000 spaces as they work towards a goal of adding 28,000 spaces by 2026.

Delanoy says despite recent gains, waitlists continue to grow.

“People don't know how to register for childcare or their waiting list. It's really a fragmented system and it's really hard to navigate,” she said.

Delanoy says she routinely speaks with new parents who are unaware of how competitive the industry is, and how expensive inaction can be.

“I have lots of young families asking me after their child is born and maybe one year old, ‘Oh, where do I sign up for child-care?’ And I'm like, you should have thought of it when you were even in conception, because that's how long it can take to get a childcare space and a childcare space that is the $10 a day.

Delanoy hopes the province will continue to prioritize childcare and think about additional help like creating a central registry to avoid confusion for new parents, which will in turn help reduce growing and perhaps out of date waitlists.

“We still don't have a system that every family can count on, so I'm now looking at it for my great grandchildren. That's how long this has taken,” Delanoy said.