Dear Editor:
RE: County parents struggling to find licensed, subsidized childcare amid space shortage, March 14.
On March 4, I attended Wellington County’s public meeting on licensed child care in the County. The meeting provided an overview of the current state of licensed child care across the county and sought participants for an advocacy group to drive improvements.
While I appreciated the information and signed up to join the advocacy group, I couldn’t help but feel shocked and disappointed with the situation. Despite the promise of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program, the reality is disheartening. Only a small fraction of families in Centre Wellington, around 15%, currently have access to it and similar statistics prevail across the county. Worse yet, the Province of Ontario’s target for access is a modest and woefully inadequate 37%.
Furthermore, Wellington County’s growth plan for licensed child care falls drastically short of what residents should expect, as it fails to include any new facilities to serve its population for the foreseeable future.
I understand this is an issue across the township, the county, the province and our country at large. However, this is also not new – it has been a problem for at least the last 50 years. Parents across generations can empathize, sharing their own struggles to find childcare in their day, putting massive financial and emotional strain on families for far too long. Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, how are we allowing this to become a persistent, inherited crisis?
Access to licensed, safe, affordable, local child care should be a right, not a privilege for the few who can squeeze their way to the top of a years-long wait list.
It’s time our government at all levels showed genuine care and concern for children’s early years and parents’ ability to participate in the workforce. Our babies and the future of this community deserve so much better.
Victoria Mountain,
Fergus