On June 6, a group of representatives from the Tumbler Ridge Children’s Centre Society (TRCCS) went before council to discuss issues facing the society—and childcare in Tumbler Ridge in general.
According to Cora Demarce, who sits on the non-profit board that runs the centre, it has operated at a loss for the last few years, and will probably continue to do so, due to cost of hiring licenced professionals, recruiting new staff and maintaining current staff.
Demarce says the society has been left by the wayside in terms of how much they are able to collect in fees, which means they are unable to pay employees a competitive wage. Right now, it is in the bottom 30 percent of what they are able to pay staff. This is partially due to Covid, and partially due to the government controlling how much they are able to increase the amount they charge. “We are approved for a five percent increase, and it will help, but it won’t offset the issues around recruitment of qualified staff,” she says.
And, with Executive Director Raelene Bielecki leaving at the end of this year, staffing issues are reaching crisis level.
According to Demarce, one or both of the preschool programs may have to be cancelled come fall. “These programs are beneficial for children transitioning to kindergarten in the next couple of years,” she says. “They teach children social engagement, emotional and language skills and provide an avenue for early detection of learning and behavioural challenges.”
The TRCCS has already made the decision to stop offering its infant toddler program as of the end of the year. “With removing this program, it opens the amount of spaces available for ages three and up to a potential of 16 spaces,” says Demarce.
And while the centre offers before and after school care programs Monday to Friday, the hours are restricted “due to the ability of attracting, recruiting and retaining qualified personnel,” says Demarce. “Without these qualified persons, we are not able to align with the majority of the businesses in Tumbler Ridge. It should also be noted that we are closing for an additional summer month—July this year—due to staffing shortages, and the loss of our executive director who is also an early childhood educator and required to be on site.”
And, says Demarce, demand is expecting to increase. According to the most recent census, there are 155 children in town ages zero-four. “This means that the potential need for preschool and childcare programs will be increasing.”
According to the same data, the largest age group in town is between ages 55 to 64. Over the next ten years, says Demarce, these people will be retiring, and the demand to fill the workforce will fall on the next largest population group, people ages 20-39. “These are the ages where families are growing and have the most need for childcare.”
There are two main issues facing the TRCCS, says Demarce: the first is physical space. The current facility is smaller than the demand for space. As a result, the District has been looking to get a grant to build a new facility for the TRCCS. This means, says Demarce, the current space has not been maintained properly as the space has been left in limbo, but there are repairs that need to be done.
But far more pressing is the lack of qualified staff. “At present,” says Demarce, “the TRCCS is in a really difficult spot. We are losing qualified staff and due to shortages in the industry and challenges to remain a competitive employer we are in dire straits. Without support the TRCCS may have to close in the next year.”
She says the board is working towards increasing staff wages in the hope that they will be able to retain the current staff. They are also networking and advertising in hopes of attracting new staff. “For the fall programming, we’ve had to close the infant toddler program due to not having enough staff as well as the economical stance having three spaces versus eight. It increases our revenue coming in.”
The society is exploring all options to help attract and retain staff, both for the short term and for the long term. And so they are asking the District for support.
Some options, say Demarce, include the District providing janitorial services (cleaning the bathrooms and floors) in the TRCCS, which would take the pressure off staff and allow them to focus on the chidren.
They are also wondering if the District would provide recreational passes to help with recruitment and retention of licensed staff.
“We are requesting that mayor and council consider having further conversations with the TRCCS about the future of childcare services in Tumbler Ridge, including but not limited to the potential for the District to take over the TRCCS, funding support for staff positions staff retention and recruitment, support for the executive director role—could this become district position—funding requests from TRCCS for new or expanded spaces, as increased physical space would allow us to increase our students spaces…educational support, bursaries, grants, etc. We would also like to suggest that council consider working with the school district to explore opportunities to support the residents of Tumbler Ridge and their need for licensed childcare. We are very open to how this support could work.”
Outgoing Executive Director Raelene Bielecki says there are a number of different models for childcare in the province: non-profit, private, in-home, or through the school district. “Our responsible adult rate, for people with no education, starts at $17. For an assistant, you have to have at least one course. They are paid $18-20. A person with an Early Childhood Educator (ECE) certificate is paid $20-23 and people who have special qualifications to deal with infants, toddlers and special needs make $23-25.”
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and Early Childhood Educators Of BC recommends that an ECE assistant make a minimum of $20, an ECE with a one year certificate make at least $26, and someone with a two year diploma make $29 per hour.
She says the government does have wage enhancement of $4, but only for qualified employees, and not the assistants.
Childcare is “a pillar of the community,” says Mayor Kieth Bertrand. “I know for a fact we have lost people just because they weren’t able to get childcare. This is a serious issue, one hundred percent, and I do believe that we’re in a bit of a crisis at this point, especially hearing all of the children that had been born over the last two years. We are certainly going to have to plan for those kids but also for current needs as well. I really don’t think space is going to be an issue. I’m sure we’re going to be able to find space, it’s the people to fill that space that is the main concern.”
He says that he is willing to take any potential new hires on a tour around town. “It’s something very small, but council was successful in attracting a new doctor to the community this year simply by providing a tour. It’s a very small gesture, but it also shows the commitment of the community and certainly could answer any questions that they may have at that time as well. Basically, we’d be throwing out the red carpet for any potential educator.”
Council has adopted this as a priority over the short term, and is looking at the options proposed by the TRCCS, as well as others, to find a solution.
Teacher Ryan Schwab hopes that one can be found. He says that, with no professional childcare for children under three years of age, he and his wife are being put into a situation where they must search for a private babysitter to watch their infant for 40 hours per week while they work as full-time teachers at Tumbler Ridge Elementary school. “This has proven to be a difficult task. We are just two of the many professionals that have come from outside this area to work in Tumbler Ridge. Thus, we cannot rely on grandparents, in-laws or other relatives to provide childcare for us. Hiring a ‘stranger’ to watch our children for 40 hours per week is very undesirable.”
He says that one of the primary reasons they chose to work and live in Tumbler Ridge back in 2018, was because at that time, there was good access to quality childcare. “In reality, a lack of reliable and competent childcare will likely lead to our departure from this community,” says Schwab. “Unfortunately, I believe several other families are in the same situation.”
He calls on council to prioritize the issue of childcare, specifically the lack of care for ages 0-3. “Perhaps our municipality could incentivize the opening of a private home daycare or address the issues that led to the closing of our municipal childcare option in the first place,” he says.
Councillor Howe says people like the Schwabs leaving impact the community in more ways than one. Yes, the two are teachers, but he says they have become enmeshed in the community. “Ryan is not only a teacher, but he is a referee for minor hockey. As people live here they start to do different things, and when you pull them out, all that stuff goes with them. It starts to affect all these other things. There’s a lot more to it than just on the surface.”
Howe suggests the centre could look at becoming a for-profit child care society, but Bielecki says the federal and provincial governments are incentivising non-profits. “They want to see non-profits and municipalities working together,” she says. “So this New Spaces Grant is open for Municipalities in partnership with non-profits. They have cut private care out of funding streams,” she says. “They want to reach that universal $10 day plan, so we have five more years [to transition].”
This problem is not unique to Tumbler Ridge. In February, the provincial and federal governments announced the Canada-British Columbia Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. As part of that agreement, the Government of Canada is providing a one-time $49.2-million investment to increase access to post-secondary ECE programs and professional learning opportunities for students, including in under-served communities. The fund will also support ECE graduates to transition to the workforce.
It’s part of $3.2 billion being allocated over the next five years for Early Childhood Education in the province.
The province anticipates there will be more than 10,000 job openings for certified ECEs and assistants in the coming decade.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
