It’s no secret that Calgary parents with young ones are often left facing extremely long waitlists when it comes time to finding childcare.
Since 2021, five local childcare spaces have had to shut down for not complying with child-staff ratios, among other issues, according to the Alberta ministry of jobs, economy, and trade.
Throughout the 2022-23 academic year, 45 non-compliances for child-staff rations were issued to 32 programs in Calgary. So far this year, 49 non-compliances have been issues to 35 programs.
Krystal Churcher, chair of the Alberta Association of Childcare Entrepreneurs, says it can be very difficult for providers to find enough staff to meet such a high demand.
“It requires a lot of patience and skill to be a great educator in childcare and they are not nearly paid what they need to be to be wanting to stay in the field,” she said. “We can’t retain or even attract qualified staff if we’re not paying them well and there’s no benefits for them to come into this field.”
Executive director of the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta, Mary-Frances Smith, says the staffing shortage isn’t the result of lack of interest in the field.
“When I speak with educators, they often talk about a very nuanced form of loving of children. What I think we need to do is make sure what we surround them with is well supported, well compensated, well qualified,” Smith said. “The educators that we have in the province are very motivated to work with children, and they need supports to do that so we do hear sometimes that they are overwhelmed.
Both agree that it’s up to the federal and provincial government to address the issue through increasing financial supports which would allow for higher paying positions immediately.
However, Churcher isn’t hopeful the situation will improve as the province moves closer and closer towards fully implementing a $10-a-day childcare program.
“Where can you even get a coffee and a muffin for $10 a day? How can we be surprised that underfunding our childcare system is going to lead to quality issues,” she said.
Alberta has previously said the hope is for $10-a-day daycare to be in place by 2026.
Earlier this week, the province closed three daycare facilities in the city claiming they posed an “imminent danger” to the health and safety of kids, something the owners deny. This left parents of hundreds of children scrambling to find care on short notice.