Sask. has worst child-care deserts in Canada: report

Megan Schmidt is tired of telling parents there is no room for their children at First Years Learning Centre in Regina. 

Schmidt, a director at the centre, said she is happy that child care has become more affordable, but her daycare has a wait list of 1,925 kids.

"It's really, really difficult to just have to turn people away like that. We feel the struggle in parents' voices when they call and we just [have to] say there's probably no chance your child will get in here, " Schmidt said.

"We could open 10 more centres in this area and we would still have a wait list."

Saskatchewan has the worst child-care deserts in Canada, according to a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) titled Not Done Yet: $10-a-day child care requires addressing Canada's child-care deserts.

The report said 92 per cent of Saskatchewan children who are not yet attending kindergarten live in a postal code with  more than three kids competing for every licensed child-care space.

Saskatchewan was the third province to implement $10-a-day child care, achieving the federal target two years early. 

"The challenge is that without more spaces, the parents who might want to use that much-more-affordable child care can't, because there isn't space," David Macdonald, a senior economist at CCPA who co-authored the report, told CBC Radio The Morning Edition's host Stefani Lagenegger. 

Macdonald said making some changes in the way child care is delivered could help reduce the number of child-care deserts in the province.

"When it comes to places like Saskatchewan, we need a public planning process that's more like what you'd see for public schools, " Macdonald said, "so this is where you're going to locate public schools — not where it's most convenient for the school, the school administration, but where it's most convenient for kids."

Saskatoon ranked dead last in coverage rates for children not yet in kindergarten among Canadian cities, while Regina has the third worst coverage. However, Macdonald said even more children live in child-care deserts in rural Saskatchewan.

Nichole Kessel is the director Wiggles and Giggles Childcare Inc. in Whitewood, a town 175 kilometres east of Regina. She remembers the stresses and tears that came with adjusting operations to meet the demands of $10-a-day child care under short notice. 

Kessel currently receives $10 from the parent and $32 from the government per child. Government subsidies for drop-in and part-time spaces will be ending on July 1, which she said will be devastating for her centre.

"It's disappointing. It's exhausting. It's just very sad," Kessel said at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on Tuesday.