![Rural child care providers say Sask. gov't needs to rethink training regulations, fund daycare expansions](https://i.cbc.ca/1.6770893.1678219693!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/child-care.jpg)
Rural child care providers say Sask. gov't needs to rethink training regulations, fund daycare expansions
CBC
Wait-lists for daycare spots across Saskatchewan are long, and that includes small towns and rural communities.
With this week's announcement that the federal and Saskatchewan governments will reach their goal of $10 dollars a day for licensed child care in the province by April 1, daycares in small towns say they expect the wait-lists to grow even longer, because more people will be able to afford child care.
Terri Low, director of Play Fair Daycare in Moosomin, approximately 224 kilometres east of Regina, said it is the only daycare in the town, which makes things very difficult for parents.
Play Fair can only accommodate 71 children. There are about 60 children on their wait-list, which Low said is a lot for a town with a population of, according to the 2016 census, approximately 2,550 people.
"Our wait list is a million miles long. We're probably about a two year wait-list right now," Low said.
Low said the $10-a-day fee is a great improvement, but that child care providers will be waiting to hear how the province expects to meet child care demands.
"I definitely anticipate [the wait-list] to get to get worse. Like, I get it. I know they're trying to make it affordable for both parents to be able to go back to work, right? But they're not taking into consideration of who's staffing these places," Low said.
"I don't think they thought this through all the way."
Low said that if the Moosomin facility had the funds, it would expand or build a sister centre. Furthermore, she said that serving the 71 children aged six weeks to 12 years old at Play Fair Daycare requires at least 21 staff members. Low said the business is always looking for staff.
"It's very difficult, and it's difficult keeping them too," said Low.
Getting Level 1 training is at minimum a three-month period of distance learning, according to Low, but she said it's difficult to find people who are willing to enter the profession due to low wages.
"Even for somebody starting here with no education, they're only at $13.50 an hour," said Low.
She said child-care workers need to be paid a competitive wage.
"They need to live too."