(Montreal) The organization Ma place au travail organized a sit-ins before the National Assembly for a third consecutive year to demand more places in childcare, but also better quality of these environments as well as promotion of the work of educators.
Marylin Dion, one of the organizers of the event, which took place Sunday morning, reports that nearly 30,000 children are on a waiting list for a place in daycare.
“It’s progressing, but at a snail’s pace,” she says in an interview with The Canadian Press. It’s going way too slowly. So, unfortunately, it is still just as relevant to mobilize, because there is still this urgency for Quebec families. »
The purpose of the organization, of which she is responsible for public affairs, is to ensure that no young parent is forced to give up returning to work because they cannot entrust their baby to a daycare center.
My place at work demands that the government include in the legal texts “the unconditional and universal right to attend a place in educational childcare”. Marylin Dion deplores that this need of families is at the mercy of “the current priorities of the party in power”.
The non-profit organization argues that despite the government’s initiatives, it is trying to “fill a leaky bucket.”
There are environments that are closing and we know that. This is directly linked to the lack of recognition for educators and early childhood workers, who are currently in negotiations and who have not had a collective agreement for over a year.
Marylin Dion, one of the organizers sit-ins
The logic that the members of Ma place au travail put forward is simple: revalue the work of educators in order to retain those already present in the network and attract new ones, and thus create new places in daycare for young children. .
My place at work was joined on Sunday by the unions representing early childhood educators, who are in negotiations for the renewal of their employment contracts, by representatives of the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire, the organization Mères au front as well as as organizations for migrants and refugees, which also suffer from network deficits.
The Ministry of Family did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.