“A thousand new places in educational services for children reserved for Native communities”: this was announced Monday by the provincial Minister of Families, Mathieu Lacombe, during a press conference in the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, in Lac-Saint-Jean.
Childcare centers, promoters and band councils will have until January 21 to respond to the call for projects.
“We still have 350 places dating from old calls for projects that were not carried out,” lamented Minister Lacombe, who blames the lack of resources. This is why the government is also proposing to “help the communities to set up their project”, in cases where they encounter difficulties in this regard.
Cultural security
At his side, the Minister of Native Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, added that the projects, since they will emanate from the communities themselves, will allow “cultural security” and will be carried out “in consideration of native realities”.
This announcement comes in the wake of Bill 1 on educational childcare services, tabled by Minister Lacombe, which provides, among other things, “to adapt the legislative and regulatory framework for childcare services to the socio-cultural realities of the communities through agreements ”.
He cited as an example the hunting season, which is important for many Aboriginal communities, where “daycare services were penalized because too many children were absent” during this period.
Barrier to employment
“Obtaining a place in a childcare environment is inevitably an issue which is extremely important to enable young mothers in particular to be able to either go back to training, or to be able to return to the workplace”, pleaded Chief Gilbert Dominique, host of the press conference.
In his community of Mashteuiatsh alone, there are “a hundred young people on the waiting list” of the local childcare center.
At the moment, “there are a little less than 4,500 places” in total in the daycares of the aboriginal communities of Quebec, added Minister Lacombe.
The real extent of the needs is still unknown, he admitted, not closing the door to the creation of even more places if necessary.
Across Quebec, it is estimated that around 50,000 spaces are needed. The government has set itself the goal of filling 37,000 in the next four years.
Asked about the lack of personnel, which risks putting a stick in his wheels, Minister Lacombe replied that with the presentation on Thursday of his “Great project for families”, measures will be put in place to facilitate recruitment, including the creation of short training courses and scholarships for students in early childhood education.
He also anticipates a “salary increase” for educators, when negotiations for their collective agreement come to an end.
This article was produced with financial support from the Facebook and The Canadian Press News Scholarships.