Sask. parents, providers frustrated over eligibility change to $10-a-day daycare
CBC
Parents and daycare providers in Saskatchewan say the province told them for months that Kindergartners turning six this year would be eligible for $10-a-day daycare under a new deal with the federal government.
The message changed this week.
Last November, after Saskatchewan and the federal government negotiated a five-year extension to the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, the province announced that kids turning six while in Kindergarten would be eligible for the program until they completed the school year.
Under the old agreement expiring on March 31, children would age out of the program as soon as they turned six, rather than at the end of the school year.
Cara Werner, executive director of Dream Big Child Care in Rocanville, Sask., said the province told daycare providers for months that kids who turned six between Jan. 1 and March 31 would still be eligible for $10-a-day daycare on April 1, when the new agreement started.
They were told those children would be covered until July 1, when they aged out of the program, Werner said.
"That was not only our understanding but that's actually what we were told by ministry officials."
On Monday, daycare providers were informed by email that children born between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2020 would not be able to switch back to the program on April 1, she said.
Those children's parents will be paying "thousands of dollars more than what they should be paying right now," Werner said.
"We've known about this deal since November 2025 and they just announced on Monday that this is how they were going to do things."
She called the move "very frustrating and very disappointing," saying it's "painfully obvious" that Education Minister Everett Hindley does not understand the deal he signed onto.
Cathryn Kuchapski's daughter just turned six, making her ineligible for $10-a-day daycare under the new agreement.
She said the change will make a big difference; her family will pay nearly $600 more a month in fees.
They're considering pulling their child out of daycare starting in April, but many families don't have that option and will be locked into daycare at a price they did not budget for, Kuchapski said.
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