As the nature of work changes, new childcare plan misses a need
Amanda Munday is torn about the impending closure of The Workaround, her coworking-slash-childcare centre in Toronto’s east end. Instead of having to rush between home, work and daycare, the centre’s 158 member families can work and play in the same building.
The federal government’s childcare strategy wasn’t meant for these sorts of childcare arrangements, and Mx. Munday says the $10-a-day subsidies are putting The Workaround out of business. Since the policy was announced in 2021, they say business has fallen by about 40 per cent. It’ll close by the end of the summer. But, as a single parent themself, Mx. Munday isn’t against a national childcare program.
Mx. Munday and other childcare providers feel Canada’s national childcare policy should try to meet these mothers where they are at – wherever they work best – instead of just relying on traditional childcare options. “There’s such a big conversation around returning to work and what’s going to become of offices,” Mx. Munday says.
This is still true, even after the pandemic underscored – again – just how essential dependable childcare is to working parents. And Morna Ballantyne, executive director of Child Care Now, an advocacy group pushing for a publicly funded childcare system, says there is no reason why a universal system of early learning and childcare can’t have centres located in or adjacent to workplaces.
However, Ms. Friendly points out, childcare that runs at non-standard hours isn’t as useful to most parents as a base of regular, licensed childcare. In a past study of non-standard hour childcare by the Child Care Resource and Research Unit, a Winnipeg childcare provider said most people simply don’t use childcare outside of typical hours because they either have partners who don’t work the same hours or they have other arrangements.
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