Saskatchewan getting more than 2,000 new early learning spaces

The Canadian and Saskatchewan governments are continuing their commitment to providing families with early learning and child-care spaces in the province.

A $23.5-million investment will allow for the development of an additional 2,349 new child care spaces across the province.

Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill explained where the funding came from.

“This funding is provided under the (Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement),” said Cockrill, referring to a plan that provides nearly $1.1 billion over five years for child care in the province.

The deal was signed in 2021.

According to a media release, funding has been allocated to 51 organizations in 41 communities. Those organizations will either build new facilities or add spaces to their existing facilities.

The release said the province is looking to fund nearly 400 additional spaces through an application process.

Cockrill said it’s important that the government continues to work on the high demand for early learning and child-care spaces.

“Our province is growing and so there’s a demand for early learning spaces across the province,” he said. “The federal-provincial agreement that we signed a couple years ago was pretty important in terms of ensuring we can build those spaces, and ensuring those spaces are in communities all around the province.”

Early childhood educators have seen a wage enhancement grant as part of the process.

“As a ministry, we’ve enhanced the early childhood educators wage enhancement grant .. as a recruitment and a retention strategy,” said Cockrill.

Saskatoon and Regina each will see 90 new spaces created.

“The 90 here and 90 in Regina, they’re expansions or they’re new sites,” said Cockrill. “All the allocations that were announced in this tranche have until March 2026 for those spots to open up. Obviously we hope those spots open up sooner than that.”

Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, which hosted Friday’s announcement, is in the process of acquiring land in Regina and Saskatoon for 90-space child-care centres.​

Glen McCallum, the president of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, said this is another good step toward reconciliation.

“The way that we work together is to prepare programs that are consistent with our culture, our identity (and) our language,” said McCallum. “We continue to work on cross-cultural understanding (and) partnership building.”

Around 30 of these spaces are for French-speaking families, all of whom live in Moose Jaw.

The media release said the creation of the new spaces is part of a shared goal between the provincial and federal governments to create 28,000 new child-care spaces in the province.

“When the federal government set out to create a national early learning and child-care system with provinces, territories and Indigenous partners, we had three main goals: Make child care more affordable, create new child-care spaces, and support the workforce,” Jenna Sudds, the federal minister of families, children and social development, said in the release.

“Thanks to our investment, families in Saskatchewan are already benefiting from an average of $10-a-day early learning and child care, saving up to $6,900 per year per child.

“These new spaces across the province are an important step in ensuring that all families, no matter where they live, have access to affordable, high-quality, inclusive early learning and child care.”​