Editor:
This letter was sent to B.C. Premier John Horgan and other provincial officials.
As board members at Esprit daycare in Gibsons, B.C., we have benefited significantly from this provincial government’s historic investment in childcare. Indeed, all families at the daycare have seen significant changes to their monthly expenses as a result of the $10/day plan. However, we have watched with growing concern as the people who provide care for our children continue to be left out of the equation. While a $1/hour top-up is something, it is certainly not enough in a workforce that has been continually underfunded. Relieving the pressure on working families is appreciated, but undervaluing and overlooking those who provide our childcare reinforces the invisibility of this essential work. It has been our experience over the years that fewer people are willing to enter the demanding field of Early Childhood Education at the current rates of pay and staffing is an ongoing issue at our daycare.
This lack of representation was observed in full force in mid-March as COVID-19 public health measures were enacted. Our board waited to see what measures, guidelines or policies would be announced to lead the childcare workforce through a confusing and threatening time as industry after industry were given clear guidance on how to proceed. Daycare providers were considered an essential service and simply told to stay open. However, they were not equipped as such.
With little guidance and no assistance or provision of PPE, our daycare manager worked to reopen the daycare so that other essential workers in the community could continue to work. Childcare providers do not have the option to follow safe-distancing protocols that can be enforced in other vocations. Young children need constant, hand-on care. This provincial government promised change in the field of childcare, and yet, with the latest announcement of pandemic pay top-ups, childcare workers were not included; they continue to be invisible in the public eye despite the essential roles they play in supporting the healthy development of the next generation.
Esprit Daycare staff showed up for our community of essential care workers, exposing themselves and their own families to a widely unknown and grave threat. Excluding them from the pandemic pay top-up continues to reinforce long held societal patterns of marginalizing childcare workers. Your government can and should do better.
The Esprit Daycare Board:
Justine Smith, Sandra Squires, Angie Smith, Chloe Delaney, Mike Stewart, Tanya Smith, Anna Carson
