Open AccessCOVID-19 and Childcare in Canada: A Tale of Ten Provinces and Three Territories
Author(s) -
Martha Friendly,
Barry Forer,
Rachel Vickerson,
Sophia S. Mohamed
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of childhood studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2371-4115
pISSN - 2371-4107
DOI - 10.18357/jcs463202120030
Subject(s) - covid-19 , pandemic , politics , political science , economic growth , demographic economics , geography , economics , medicine , law , disease , pathology , virology , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty)
This paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic’s first wave on Canadian childcare. Using results from 8,300 responses to a Canadawide survey of centres and regulated family childcare, it illustrates how limited public funding and reliance on parent fees made childcare unsustainable when services closed. The lack of public funding created financial stress and uncertainty about the future among centres Canada wide, including in provinces offering more robust support. The paper concludes by considering how dynamics set in motion by the pandemic shaped political developments and may ultimately contribute to the transformation of Canadian childcare to a publicly funded systemic approach.