SIOUX LOOKOUT — The relocation of the Waninawakang Child Care Centre presents an opportunity to create additional child care spaces in the municipality, says the chief administrative officer of the Kenora District Services Board.
The child care centre is transitioning to a new building, located at the Waninawakang Aboriginal Head Start site on Princess Street.
“There is now going to be more access for families for child care. We've been working with Waninawakang Aboriginal Head Start and they going to continue to make sure their program is well supported as the system service manager, but also this beautiful building that was purpose-built as a child care centre is fully utilized,” said Henry Wall, the services board's CAO.
The services board will be assuming the direct delivery of childcare spaces and services, in partnership with Waninawakang Aboriginal Head Start, which will begin their Early Years and Child Care Programs on Sept. 5.
Wall expects a smooth transition for parents who have young children already in the program to adjust to the new setting, and those children about to begin school create an opportunity for new families to register for the program.
“In September, it's a perfect time when school-age children go to school. So from that, they transition to school-age programs and in a way, it just allows for almost a new cohort of children and families that will be accessing the Waninawakang Aboriginal Head Start in their new location, but then also for us as well, right at the same time, will open up fully operationalized the program,” said Wall.
The services board is looking to operate 40 childcare spaces including nine infant spaces, 15 toddler spaces and 16 preschool spaces while building its staff complement.
Wall explained that before taking over childcare services in Sioux Lookout, Dryden wanted to transition out of direct delivery of childcare services by the city. However, the board noticed the programming by the municipality was running a deficit “where the cost of running the program didn't match the funding or the parent fees coming in.”
Recognizing that municipalities already fund the board for child care programs, the board took the initiative to work together with municipalities under one program.
“So, when that initiative happened, it actually created savings and those have been, we've been able to reinvest which means more staffing and an expansion of child care programs,” said Wall.
The board's goal is to remove challenges for families in need of childcare services but is not able to enter the job market because there are not enough childcare spaces available.
"Something that we hear so often is that, for example, the Meno Ya Win Health Centre is looking to recruit, but find it difficult to recruit families who need access to child care. But if there isn’t enough staff to run programs, it creates a huge challenge for families," Wall said. "So, families are choosing between going to work or not. Families should be able to choose but not sacrifice one over the other.”
Wall said the service board's partnerships, and the Ontario government's $13.2 billion agreement with the federal government’s Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system that was implemented in March 2022, the services board can eventually make universal access to child care available to families.
“So, what this means, barring any unforeseen things such as assuming we will have access to [early childhood educators], which is with the expansion piece, we'll need quite a few, that in four years, if everything goes as planned, the district of Kenora will be the first region in Ontario to have full universal access to child care for families,” Wall stated.
Wall foresees the Waninawakang Aboriginal Head Start and the operation of the child care service as an opportunity to provide early childhood educators with more than minimum wage than in southern Ontario. The services board partners with Confederation College, which provides them with a direct link to students looking for work in the region.
"We can actually support people, support individuals to go become [early childhood educators]. Work for us and get paid to go to school," he said. "It's a very collaborative way that has allowed us to do that. But that was the goal really at the end of bringing the programs under one regional program. We can now really invest in ourselves, but then also make sure we respond to the needs of our communities.
