Press Room

For immediate release

CCCF APPLAUDS ALBERTA AND NOVA SCOTIA FOR FUNDING TO INCREASE CHILD CARE WAGES

(March 12, 2007 – Ottawa, ON) The Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF) congratulates the provinces of Alberta and Nova Scotia for their recent announcements to increase the wages of child care practitioners, and urges all provinces to follow suit.

Both Alberta and Nova Scotia have boosted the wage subsidies they offer to child care facilities, enabling the child care programs to pay their practitioners more. According to CCCF, this move recognizes the important work of child care practitioners and is a step forward in addressing the child care workforce’s serious problems of recruitment and retention.

“We know from research that child care practitioners play a key role in providing quality child care to children. Yet they are so poorly paid that they are often forced to leave the field in order to make a decent living,” said Don Giesbrecht, president of the Canadian Child Care Federation.

Across Canada, child care practitioners typically make little more than minimum wage, despite the fact that they have specialized training and are responsible for children at their most important stages of development. As a result, many child care programs are unable to attract and keep enough qualified staff to operate at full capacity. The recent funding announcements by Alberta and Nova Scotia acknowledge the problem of recruitment and retention, and the link between the quality staff and quality programming.

“Poor wages and working conditions is a problem across the country. We encourage all the provinces and territories to invest in their child care workforces. The skilled, dedicated men and women who care for children deserve to be fairly compensated. Our children and families deserve a qualified, stable child care workforce,” said Giesbrecht.

CCCF is a vibrant partnership of 21 provincial/territorial child care organizations that represents over 11,500 members, including child care practitioners working in centres and family child care, academics, parents and policy makers. CCCF is committed to excellence in early learning and child care through best and promising practice, capacity building, and collaborations, networks and partnerships.

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Media contacts:

Claire McLaughlin
Publications Manager
(613) 729-5289 ext. 221; cmclaughlin@cccf-fcsge.ca

Brigid Rivoire
Executive Director
(613) 729-5289 ext. 226; brivoire@cccf-fcsge.ca

Don Giesbrecht
President
(204) 889-9858; cell: (204) 223-9369; don@assiniboinecc.org