NWT to reach average of $10 a day for childcare in April

The Northwest Territories is set to reach an average of $10 a day for regulated childcare spaces by April 1.

The federal and territorial governments made the announcement on Thursday, saying the achievement will be two years ahead of schedule under a childcare funding agreement between the governments.

Cailtin Cleveland, the NWT’s minister of education, culture and employment, said reaching the $10-a-day mark will save families as much as $9,120 a year.

“These savings will provide real benefits to families and will reduce the financial pressures that many young families experience in our territory,” she said.

“For some families, they may make the difference between being able to afford a down payment on a home or being able to save for their children’s future.”

Jenna Sudds, the federal minister of families, children and social development, said the NWT will join five provinces and the other two territories in achieving the $10-a-day goal through agreements with Ottawa.

“Childcare is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” she said.

Karen Rawson, co-chair of the NWT Early Childhood Association, said the NWT still “has a way to go before all families are paying $10 a day or less.”

“There are still programs throughout the NWT that must charge fees well above $10 a day to be sustainable,” she said.

“The sector in the NWT is very fragile right now. Sustainability is a huge challenge.”

The $51-million, five-year agreement between the NWT and federal governments also aims to create 300 new childcare spaces in the territory by March 2026. Sudds said more than 60 new spaces have been created so far.

There has been fierce criticism from some dayhome and daycare operators about how the program has been rolled out, particularly the capping of fee increases.

Cleveland said a wage grid is coming that will standardize wages in the sector. She said over the past two years, the NWT and Canadian governments had spent roughly $4.6 million in wage top-ups for early childhood educators across the territory.

Childcare spaces are sorely needed across the NWT. Many daycares have long waitlists, while Cleveland said there are 14 communities without any licensed childcare spaces.

Efforts to launch a daycare in Norman Wells have faced challenges accessing adequate funding.

Cleveland said one of the ways the NWT government is working to address that issue is through a pilot program launched in eight communities in 2023.

That program aims to support the operation of day homes in public housing units in communities where private housing is limited. CBC reported in December that no one had yet participated in the program.