A few years ago, we made the choice to be parents; the most beautiful job in the world, we were told … If we, the families of Quebec, have been in greater numbers in recent years, it is certainly because we live in a society that allows us to make this choice.
Indeed, for several decades, Quebec has built a society that allows us, parents, to flourish at work, to get involved in our community and to raise our children. Every day, our families are building the Quebec of tomorrow with heart and passion, but today, this social project is in jeopardy.
For almost two years, we, the families, have been silent, obedient and resilient. We have built makeshift offices in our too small homes, we have been educators for our children while ensuring our full-time employment service, we have ensured the development of our children despite the uncertain context and the absence grandparents, we cut ourselves off from our social network to minimize the risks, we filled our windows with rainbows to show our support and our solidarity, all while claiming that “it will be fine”, we called on our network and started therapy and medication (when it was available!) when things were going much less well. However, Mr. Legault, know that it is not going any more… We feel that parental exhaustion is at our doors.
We are all aware of the validity of sanitary rules, and understand that we do not oppose them, however, they greatly complicate our daily lives. Between the disparities in the rules in schools and those in daycare services, we lose track.
Added to this are exclusions due to symptoms, which are in fact in the vast majority of the time cold symptoms, and outbreaks in schools and daycare centers which require long isolation of several days each time. Thus, our children are only very few in school or in the CPE, and above all, we have little time left to be completely available for work. We all have little control over this pandemic, so we are taking all our courage and our resilience to keep our heads above water for some time to come. We reorganize our schedules, stay with our children during the day and catch up with our work in the evening, always reducing our rest periods. However, it seems that this was not enough, because since September, a new element has been added to our reality, the strikes in the childcare centers …
For real equality of opportunity
Remember, Mr. Legault, the days when the CPEs were created. This model of daycare, envied around the world, has seen us grow and allowed us to be what we are today. This model, dear to Quebec women for more than 25 years, would not only allow women to access the labor market more easily, but also propel Quebec towards greater equality between men and women. The network of childcare centers has not only made it possible to offer a childcare service to families, it has also made it possible to professionalize jobs in the sector in order to provide an exceptional living environment for our little ones. These environments provide quality education and a place of prevention that promotes the importance of equal opportunities for each child and their family. The ambitious projects resulting from the 1996 family policy were successful, Mr. Legault, and it is now time to recognize this and improve the accessibility of this network to all families, in order to offer real equality of opportunity to all families. all children.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, PRESS ARCHIVES
“Since September, a new element has been added to our reality, the strikes in the CPEs”, write the co-signers who ask the government to settle this labor dispute.
The health protocols added to the strike in the CPEs are currently causing consequences for society that will take years to recover. Parents already exhausted are reaching the limit of their ability even to remain in employment, it is a social disaster in preparation. In a context of labor shortage, Quebec cannot afford to lose these workers.
In fact, each additional day of strike action (which adds to the many effects of the pandemic) directly reduces the net output and productivity of working parents.
Moreover, unfortunately, although the models of families are more and more egalitarian, it appears that it is still the women who bear the cost of the additional mental load, and who must adapt more. While the 1996 family policy aimed to promote work-family reconciliation to revive the economy, we are backing down once again. The basic needs of a work-family balance are clearly not being met at the present time and, in this sense, there is an inequality in the distribution of the impacts that should not be tolerated.
We must not put our heads in the sand either: our children too have been heavily affected by these constant adjustments for 18 months. We adapt as best we can, but rarely without impact for them. In many families, screen times are skyrocketing, parental patience is more limited than ever, and everyday life is turned upside down by sudden changes of plan. This is all the more true for families with children in difficulty, whose routine is the key to well-being. What do we offer this generation?
We, Quebec families exhausted from adapting, ask you to settle this labor dispute through a negotiated agreement in order to save our mental health and that of our children, but also to save our early childhood education system. We all collectively need the workers of the CPE network, their role is major and it is time to recognize their part in our society as well as the fair value of their work. Do not abandon the Quebec families who have chosen to participate in the Quebec of tomorrow, and who today are at the end of their rope. If there is nothing you can do to help the pandemic develop, you have all the power you need to resolve this labor dispute.
* Consult the list of more than 275 signatories What do you think? Express your opinion