Auditor general says GNWT ‘fell short on early learning and childcare’

Inspections of licensed early learning and childcare facilities in the Northwest Territories have been unreliable, putting children at risk, Canada’s Office of the Auditor General has found.

The finding is one of many outlined in a report released Wednesday that found the territory’s Department of Education, Culture and Employment “fell short” of supporting access to affordable, inclusive, high-quality and safe services for young children.

The report found that in 20 percent of the inspections reviewed, inspectors were using outdated risk classifications, resulting in some high-risk deficiencies not being labelled as such. 

In half of the high-risk deficiencies examined, the department did not follow up with providers to ensure the issues had been addressed. 

One example of this provided in the report was an instance where there was no evidence collected to prove the heating system in a facility had been fixed before it was reopened during the winter.

Further, auditors found the department did not provide formal or standardized training to the people meant to be carrying out inspections, in accordance with the regulations. 

Instead, the report noted, new inspectors would learn their roles through shadowing more experienced workers. 

Speaking at a press conference following the release of the report, education minister Caitlin Cleveland said she wanted parents to know that “at no point was the safety of children in the care of educators in question in any of these instances.”

“These instances ultimately came back to ensuring that we have proper documentation on file to show that concerns were rectified,” said Cleveland.

Equitable support, inclusion of diverse children 

The territorial government has not assessed the needs of families or communities in terms of the number of childcare and early learning spaces available, the auditors found. 

More than 90 percent of the 315 spaces created during the two-year audit period were in the North Slave region of the territory, while that region accounted for only about 60 percent of the children aged 12 and under.

In fact, the auditors asserted, no new spaces were created in the Beaufort Delta or Sahtu regions during the audit period. 

Cleveland said a reason for this discrepancy could be the ease of accessing existing infrastructure and staff in Yellowknife compared to smaller communities.

She said there are currently 220 spaces in the process of being created, 175 of which will be located outside Yellowknife. 

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, deputy auditor general Andrew Hayes said getting a clear picture of the territory’s needs is an important task. 

“I personally don’t think that it’s onerous work,” said Hayes. 

“What has to happen is that the government has to take a proactive approach with communities and Indigenous governments to identify the needs in those areas across the territory.

“I don’t think it’s enough to use a passive approach where communities come forward to identify their needs, because silence should not be taken as an indication that there aren’t needs.”

The audit also found the department did not know if vulnerable and diverse children had access to inclusive spaces and did not develop an inclusion plan for these children, as it had promised to do in its funding agreement with the federal government. 

While the department provided inclusion support for some – including those with disabilities, those who may require individual attention and Indigenous children – it did not provide similar services for Black and racialized children and children of newcomers.

Additionally, the audit found that while the department had identified elements of quality early education during the review period, it did not evaluate whether facilities were meeting that criteria, nor if services had improved since the framework was developed.

Similarly, the department implemented a wage grid to help attract and retain childcare workers but did not track whether retention of these employees was improving. 

Gaps in financial oversight

The audit found the territorial government did not verify information that early learning and childcare providers gave the department before it sent payments to those facilities. 

Through its agreement with the federal government, the territory’s education department provides funding to facilities to help lower the cost of these services to an average of $10 per day.

While things like staff hours and enrollment numbers were provided to the department, it did not collect documents to support the figures provided, such as timesheets. 

“Department officials told us that it relied on attestations to reduce the administrative burden on operators given their limited capacity,” the report stated. 

The auditors warned that not verifying this type of information increases the risk that the department could be overpaying providers.

“Money that shouldn’t be spent could be better used in other places, and again, that ties back to understanding the needs across the territory,” said Hayes.  

The territorial government said it accepted the findings, which covered a period between April 2024 and March 2026. A committee of regular MLAs will now review the audit.

Cleveland said the department will be looking to address some of the report’s recommendations related to documentation and verification processes first, before planning a needs assessment across the territory. 

“We have fully committed to making sure that we implement these recommendations and that we don’t lose this opportunity to learn from this audit,” said Cleveland.