Province wraps up 'community conversations' in search for child-care fixes

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has wrapped up a series of 12 "public engagement sessions" across the province, hearing from around 115 people as it seeks solutions to the child-care crisis.

But an official with one advocacy group said turnout at the events was surprisingly small, which points to the size of the problem.

"I wouldn't say that the low attendance is reflective of a lack of interest in child care, but rather the consequence of a lack of child care," said Kenya Thompson, a co-ordinator with Childcare Now Nova Scotia.

In recent years, day-care operators in the province have complained of a range of challenges including rising operating costs and a shortage of workers, leading to lengthy wait-lists for spaces.

Although parents and caregivers were allowed to bring their children to the public sessions, which ran on weeknights throughout October from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thompson said most families that are struggling with their child-care situation would likely be too exhausted and stressed to attend.

The "community conversations" were meant to be an opportunity for parents and primary caregivers who have, or hope to have children enrolled in child care programs, to share feedback and concerns about the current system.

Federal funding at stake

It comes as the province tries to build a publicly-funded child care system through a 2021 deal with Ottawa that would give the provincial government access to $605 million in federal funding for child care and early childhood education over five years. One of the end goals in the process is to make child care accessible at a rate of $10 per day, but that remains a work in progress.

While each of the public sessions could accommodate up to 30 attendees, an average of 10 people were present at each one, according to numbers provided to CBC News by department spokesperson Jenna MacQueen.

The lowest turnout was the session in Amherst, which no one attended.

The highest turnout was 25 attendees at the Mi'kmaq Child Development Centre, where members of the department joined a women's focus group hosted by the centre. 

That event was by invitation only, as were three of the others. The remaining eight were open to anyone who registered.

'Intimate sharing sessions'

CBC News tried to attend several of the sessions but were told by department staff that members of the media would be required to sign a confidentiality agreement. 

At Province House on Tuesday, Education Minister Becky Druhan said that was because the events were "designed to be very intimate sharing sessions where people could talk really specifically about their family's needs and their children's needs. So we wanted to ensure that we created an atmosphere in which people would be comfortable to do that."

A public report with a summary of the discussions will be released in 2024, MacQueen said.

Druhan also told reporters that the provincial government has had "strong engagement" from the public that goes beyond the in-person sessions.

Outside the Yarmouth session, Kayleigh Gildart, director of stakeholder transformation with the department, pointed CBC News to an online "thought exchange," where people could share their child-care concerns.

It received 1,122 submissions, most of which discuss the need for more available spaces, and better wages and training for early childhood educators.

No open sessions in HRM

While the engagement sessions were held in various communities across the province, the only sessions held in Halifax Regional Municipality were by invitation only.

Thompson was pleased the province went to remote areas, but she said Childcare Now Nova Scotia hears about many issues with child care in Halifax and surrounding areas — particularly a lack of spaces. 

"Most of the province's children live in the HRM," she said. "Any consultation sessions that occur that speak to Nova Scotians need to meet Nova Scotians where they're at." 

Druhan said the department's goal "is to make sure that [they] have broad consultation and identify, sort of, specific needs that maybe don't always get reflected." 

There will be future opportunities for consultation for families in the Halifax area and across the province, she said, without providing details.