Funding changes to Canada’s national daycare program, aimed at reducing fees for parents, are actually doing more harm than good for parents and their children locally.
The changes will result in parents and their children being left out in the cold at the end of this year when the Deep Roots Nature and Nursery School is forced to close its doors.
Deep Roots Nature and Nursery School, located in Chalk River, was founded in 2022 by sisters-in-law Amanda and Alicia Sage with the dream of creating meaningful nature-based programming for children, offering programs for kids aged 18 months to five years old.
The school’s philosophy is based on the Reggio Emilia approach to education, which believes that children are capable of exploring and discovering for themselves, and should be encouraged to have some control over their learning.
“We don’t teach children how to play and learn. They teach us,” explains Alicia.
“We work collaboratively.”
But it appears the Ministry of Education isn’t taking the word “collaboratively” into account when it comes to the funding of for-profit operators like Deep Roots Nature and Nursery School.
The funding crunch stems from the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreement capping daycare fees that was reached between the federal government and Ontario the same year Deep Roots opened its doors.
Effective the beginning of January, fees for children under six will be capped at $22 per day, and will be further lowered to an average of $10 per day by March, 2026…
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