There are calls for the province to improve the child care system in Ontario.
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care and its partners presented a petition, with thousands of names on it, in the legislature on Wednesday, to mark Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day.
It calls for adequate wages for workers and affordable fees for parents.
The liberal government announced a commitment of 100,000 child care spaces in the last throne speech.
But Child Care spokesperson Carolyn Ferns says “we need an approach that develops a real child care system. Not just a space expansion, but affordability for parents and decent work for educators.”
Educators also warn the government that without ensuring equal pay and decent work, the sector will continue to experience high rates of staff turnover as trained educators leave the sector due to low pay and burnout.
Bernice Cipparrone McLeod of the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development at OISE/UT states “research shows that it’s the educators that build quality in early learning and care. They are the key to quality programs and must be supported.”
