Community 'shocked' by consolidation of 2 Dartmouth Day Care Centre locations
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Claudia Chender, the MLA for Dartmouth South and the NDP education critic, said she has heard from more than 20 parents since the announcement was made.
‘As soon as parents began receiving that letter, I began getting calls and emails,’ she said. ‘I think everyone was shocked. Not only are parents losing their daycare, but a number of early childhood educators are losing their employment. My understanding is they found out the night before parents did.’
It's unclear how many employees will be laid off.
Chender, whose children used to attend the Crichton Avenue daycare, said the consolidation points to larger issues ‘prevalent throughout the entire child-care ecosystem,’ such as a scarcity of spots.
She said she's heard Dartmouth will lose another daycare over the summer and was concerned about what that would mean for access to child care in the area.
‘Many of these parents may in fact not be able to find child care anywhere near their community, and we know that that often leads to people leaving the labour force and other associated challenges, so it's a huge concern,’ said Chender.
‘I'm hopeful that if this parent swell of concern can't stop the consolidation and closure of this particular daycare, that we can find a way for another daycare to open in its stead.‘
Chender said the current scarcity in child-care spots and a need for affordable child care for parents points to a need for universal child care — something governments have promised for decades, but has not yet materialized.
She said the province's child-care system faces many issues, including the fact that they are funded through a ‘fairly complex patchwork of grants’ and ‘extraordinarily high’ parent fees.
‘We have known about this issue for a long time,’ she said. ‘We need for families to have guaranteed access to affordable, accessible child care in Nova Scotia, and [the consolidation] just highlights the challenges when we don't have that.’
During question period at the legislature Thursday, Chender asked the province's new premier, Iain Rankin, if he would commit to investing in a universal and affordable public child-care system in the next budget.
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