Daycare on Manitoulin Island prepares to close temporarily affecting 25 children
The Assiginack Child Care Centre located in the small community of Manitowaning, on Manitoulin Island, is closing its doors for at least a month due to a staffing shortage.
In a statement the centre's executive director, Andrea Lewis, said, “We are very saddened that it has come to this. We have been struggling for quite some time to find staff. We know that this is a real hardship; especially when we have so many families already involved with childcare as well as many families who have been actively looking for childcare. Ideally we would like to not close at all, but we will use this time to recruit and better prepare staff for working in the field of childcare.”
25 children will be without care as of September 20th and Lewis told CTV News at least two to three staff will need to be hired before they can re-open. While she says it would be great to have those individuals be Early Childhood Educators, anyone who has a background with working with children is encouraged to apply.
“It can be hard for people who have never worked in the childcare industry to understand how much goes into the day to day of working in this field. Unfortunately, this is a very underpaid and often undervalued field, so we often lose staff to other opportunities with better pay. Staff retention is a problem across the province as many centers are suffering from staff shortages.,” added Lewis.
This centre isn’t the only one to be affected by staffing shortages; Carolyn Ferns, Public Policy Coordinator, with Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, said it’s a problem being felt across Ontario.
“I’ve heard from centres who are closing down rooms, that have sent out messages to families saying can you send your child maybe only a few days a week because we can’t operate at capacity things like that then you know that we have to address the childcare workforce crisis and we can’t do it without address the low wages in the childcare sector,” Ferns advised.
Ferns told CTV all of the child care centres that the coalition represents on some level are experiencing staffing challenges.
All of this comes at a time when we should be expanding child care with the Canada-wide early childhood education care plan rolling out, Fern added.
“Which means that childcare is going to be more affordable for families and that’s great, but unless we solve the workforce crisis, we’re not going to be able to serve the families that are in the system now, let alone expand to serve more families.”
Ferns said while the government continues to push training more early childhood educators and providing more professional development opportunities the real way to solve the problem she says is by changing the retention figure which shows that Early Childhood Educators only stay in the field for an average of 3 years before leaving the profession.
“We know what needs to happen to change this. We need to improve the wages and working conditions to turn early childhood education and childcare work from sort of a stop that people make on their way to a different career or somewhere you know, people go in with high hopes and wanting to make a difference for families and then find that they’re burnt out.”
Updates on the Assiginack Child Care are communicated on their Facebook page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.