Demand growing faster than funding for prenatal support program in Dawson City, Yukon, coordinator says

The coordinator of a program that offers free prenatal and post-natal support for families in Dawson City, Yukon, says demand for the program is growing, while its funding is not keeping pace.

For the past 30 years, the Healthy Families, Healthy Babies program has played an important role in the lives of many Dawson families, offering services like parenting workshops, meals, laundry services, grocery vouchers, family respite, a lending library, and open space on weekdays for families to come and go.

It's run out of the town's Y.O.O.P (Yukon Order of Pioneers) Hall. Coordinator Tanja Westland said if it wasn't for that organization's generosity, the program would still be operating from its previous location outside of the downtown core.

She said as the town's population increases, so does the demand for the program. However, the federal funding it's eligible for hasn't increased since 1995.  

"We're in an isolated northern community of the Yukon [and] there are a lack of services for children, and families," Westland said. "With our limited funding we've been trying to continuously stretch and adapt to the priority needs of our community."

Westland said her program gets $122,440 per year from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which covers less than half of the expenses of her program. That funding has also not kept up with inflation over the decades, she said.

Recent changes to the agency's funding model also mean Westland will have to re-apply for the funds every four years.

Westland said the Yukon Government has matched the federal funding for her program over the last four years, but there's no guarantee that will continue. She also relies heavily on local partnerships, donations, and grants to sustain the level of service the program offers, but that too that isn't always consistent or assured.

"We need [the] Public Health Agency of Canada to figure out, at a government level [and] through collaboration with provincial and territorial governments, how they'll collectively ensure our 600-plus programs across Canada can receive adequate, and sustainable funding," Westland said.

"Without that funding we'll have to make some serious changes."

Nobody from the Public Health Agency of Canada was available for an interview before publication.

'When you come here, they support you'

Lindsay Bourgoin, a mother of two in Dawson City, said the Healthy Families, Healthy Babies program has been vital in her journey as a parent.

"It doesn't matter if you're having a good day or a bad day," Bourgoin said. "When you come here, they support you any which way. Between the food vouchers, and different cooking classes, and sewing classes and having social for my kids — it's so important."

Bourgoin described one time when she arrived at the program with her daughter, in need of some support. Bourgoin was in tears when she arrived and without missing a step another parent swooped in to help. Bourgoin said they held her baby while she sat on the couch and drank a cup of coffee.

"It's something that seems so simple but it's like a necessity, to keep going and keep that strength up as a parent," Bourgoin said. "It really brings our community together."

Lucy Welsh has been attending the program for the past three years.

As a mother of two, she said it's a great opportunity for her and her kids to interact with other families, especially during the winter months.

"I come here to basically have other people to talk to. Other adults," she said. "Have my kids talk to other kids."

Patrik Pikalek and his wife Irena Pikalkova have three children and are soon expecting a fourth. They said couldn't imagine life without the program.

"Not all of the families are able to access the daycares," Pikalek said. "This place provides services which no one else does. I understand in bigger cities you can probably find that support somewhere else, but in a place like Dawson there just no other place."