Corporatization of child care:
I know many of you who read this blog do not have children and therefore do not consider childcare to be an issue for you! However the day you do, if you do have children, and you chose / have to continue to earn an income, then this becomes a critically important part of your week. I consider it as more important than public school in some instances, particularly since early childhood development critical years are between the ages of 0-6. My two rascals went to the best non-profit, unionized, community daycare, Glebe Daycare and quite frankly my kids and I had a most fantastic experience and still visit from time to time. The great thing about this form of daycare is the relationship building, it is for the long term, and the women and men who took care of my children for 10 years each are still there. My children’s best friends are the kids they met in the baby room! The kids they drooled on. Those kids all now live in different parts of the city, go to different schools, but are inseparable. It is the same for my eldest who started daycare in Canada at age 5. This is friendship continuity that you rarely find in ones life, and rarely in workers in very low paid pink collar work. We do not need corporate daycare farms, we need community, neighbourhood groups who love and are dedicated to children first. My sister’s experience in Quebec has not been as good as mine as the wages are very low for daycare workers, the rotation of workers high, and the accreditation and monitoring not as rigorous while demand sky rocketed with the 7$/ day policy.
Corporatization of child care:
It’s not as easy as ABC
Multinational child care corporations, including Australian giant ABC Learning, are moving into Canada. Corporate-run child care will damage high-quality, community-based non-profit early learning and child care –and threaten the future of a pan-Canadian system.
Learn more and find out what you can do at this free event.
Tuesday, April 1st, 7 to 9 p.m. Ottawa City Hall, A.S. Haydon Hall (Council Chambers) 110 Laurier Avenue West Featuring:
* Deborah Brennan, Professor of social policy, University of New South Wales Social Policy Research Centre: Australia’s experience with corporatized child care.
* Steven Shrybman, partner, Sack, Goldblatt, Mitchell: the trade dangers of foreign corporate child care.
* Lynell Anderson, Project Director, Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada and Associate, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: the importance of child care as a publicly-delivered social program.
Panel moderator: Ottawa child care activist Jamie Kass
Accessible event
Refreshments provided
French language interpretation not available at this event
Sponsors:
Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, Code Blue for Child Care, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
For more information contact: Emily King, CCAAC 613-594-3196 ext. 231
