Many changes have come to the ECE field, COVID-19 being one of the biggest factors impacting the industry, and in response, Ontario has begun lowering the cost of childcare.
The province signed onto the Canada-wide Early Learning and Childcare system, an initiative with the goal of lowering childcare fees to an average of $10 a day for families.
While this is considered a win for many who rely on ECE services on a daily basis, even more concerns are now coming from the workforce about whether there are the resources to manage this new demand.
Carolyn Ferns, policy coordinator for the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, said the issue of staffing is driven by low wages.
“It predated the pandemic, but then of course, it’s become so much worse as the pay continued to stagnate, but the demands on the job were getting higher,” she said. “We’ve seen a lot of early childhood educators leaving licensed child care, and not enough coming to work.”
The government has not yet released their new childcare workforce strategy, but said they consulted many groups in the industry to inform their decisions, including representatives like Ferns, other advocacy groups and experts.
According to information from the plan’s documents released via Freedom of Information request by The Canadian Press, officials are estimating that Ontario could be short by more than 8,000 early childhood educators by 2026.
Ferns said these numbers could increase if the new hourly rates are still too little to match the demand the workforce is currently contending with.
In the meantime, programs across the province are forced to continue operating on a limited capacity, or shut down completely, she said.
The advocacy group she represents, the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, has been calling on governments since its inception in 1982, advocating for universal affordable childcare.
Ferns said if this action plan from the government is implemented, it will serve a great benefit to the industry, but when that will happen remains unanswered.
“ECEs deserve the money, and this should have happened years ago,” she said. “I think it should happen as soon as possible. I hope the government unveils what their strategy is and provides some space for feedback.
“We need to start to turn this around so that programs can start operating at capacity and we can start increasing spaces and improving access for families,” Ferns said.