The future of child care was the subject of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity’s first webinar in a new bilingual series on the Future of Work.
Erika Cantu spoke about her struggle as a newcomer to the province to find affordable or bilingual care for her two young children.
Josée Nadeau, Director of the Francophone Education and Early Childhood Education Branch with the government of New Brunswick, gave an overview of the early childhood education field in the province, and what the government is doing to improve and support quality.
Morna Ballantyne, Child Care Now’s Executive Director, explained that high parent fees, and problems of inclusion and availability of high quality child care are a result of the province’s reliance on market to supply child care services. She said a publicly funded and managed system of early learning and child care is the only way to ensure that all families and children have access to the programs they need.
Julie Gillet of the Regroupement Feministe Nouveau Brunswick spoke about how child care is an important way to address inequalities based on gender.
The Coalition for Pay Equity’s position on child care is available here.