An advocate of rural day care is urging interested parties to join a teleconference call this month as a prelude to lobbying the federal government for a plan that works for farm parents.
Jane Wilson of Rural Voices has published a document on-line that discusses child care for rural, remote and northern parents.
She said the organization is now looking for broader community involvement so more people can contribute to a final document to be presented to MPs in early April.
Wilson is a former head of a child-care system in Langruth, Man., that involved five rural communities.
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While she and her consultant partner Carol Gott have received a federal grant to set up a similar integrated hub system in Newfoundland and two other undisclosed sites in Canada, they continue to lobby for isolated families.
The federal government is committing $5 billion over five years to develop and implement a national child-care strategy and Wilson was happy to see money put on the table during the recent budget.
However, she is worried that the money will be put into a trust fund, which she called a grey area.
“I’m really concerned whether that money will be spent on child care or roads.”
Conservative family critic Carol Skelton said in a News release
news that the budget allocation “should go directly to parents so they can pay for much needed child care or make the decision for one parent to stay home to raise their children.”
Wilson said that doesn’t work for most rural parents, who can’t buy child care because “it’s not there.”
People who live outside of cities have few options, she added, because of the sparse rural population, geographic isolation and higher cost of setting up a quality service.
That is why Rural Voices is asking Ottawa for a dedicated fund to help rural communities set up quality child-care centres with enough flexibility to work for them.
“Present services in rural, remote and northern communities often include unregulated home-based child care options” with poorly trained staff, Wilson wrote in her document.
Organized child-care centres are not just good for kids’ development but can also relieve non-working parents who are studying or caring for other family members such as parents.
There is also a safety issue because 115 children younger than six were killed in farm-related events from 1990-2000. Busy parents and precarious environments can cause injuries as well as fatalities.
Rural Voices will be organizing teleconference seminars on March 14, 15 and 16.
For more information, e-mail ruralvoices@kmts.ca, fax 807-548-7730 or visit www.producer.com and type “rural voices” in the go box.
“It’s up to the public to say what they want,” said Wilson.
“We are in this for the long term. We need to address not only current child-care needs, but our long-term needs for sustainable, growing communities, which will be able to keep and attract young people and encourage many types of economic development.”
