Tag: Daycare

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Opinions

The provincial government needs to fix the childcare system

While planning my move from Calgary to Montreal with a toddler last year, I was in a state of joy.

Not only is childcare largely subsidized in Quebec, but I had heard wonders about the CPE system. CPE stands for “centre de la petite enfance,” government-funded daycares where qualified educators follow Montessori-like pedagogical programs.

It turns out things were more complicated than I expected. 

First of all, the length of the CPEs waitlist is unfathomable.

According to the Québec Ministry of Family, as of March 2018, CPEs had a capacity of 96,000 spaces. Compare that to more than 115,000 in private daycares and some 90,000 in at-home private daycares. Most children, therefore, attend private facilities — subsidized and unsubsidized, the cost of the latter being alleviated by tax returns.

Licencing private daycares costs less than opening more CPEs, which is the avenue the past and present governments have embraced. While childcare in a CPE costs on average $60 of public funds per day per child, a day in a private daycare usually amounts to $22 in taxpayer money, say Le Soleil and L’Actualité.

Second, too many private daycares are of substandard quality.

The Observatoire des tout-petits, part of the Lucie et André Chagnon Foundation, said in a 2018 report that between 33 and 40 per cent of children placed in private daycares “are attending facilities of poor or very poor quality.” The proportion is below 3 per cent for CPEs. In a mirror effect, while 45 per cent of CPEs provide “good or excellent” care, less than 10 per cent of private facilities do.

In one private daycare I had put my child in, I found that kids aged between two and three were just put in front of the TV for several hours a day instead of taking part in the educational activities I was told they were doing. Some weeks, children did not go outside a single time, even when the weather allowed it.

Besides health and safety regulations, requirements to open a private daycare are minimal. In theory, two out of three educators should be ‘qualified,’ which is to say that they have a diploma in early childhood education. But a 2016 report of the Ministry of Family found that only 16 per cent of private daycares respect the two out of three qualified educators’ rule.

In an attempt to make childcare more affordable for families, the Legault government announced on Nov. 8 the reduction of fees in subsidized facilities, from up to $13.20 per day to $8.25 per day. And, according to La Presse, the government is working on subsidizing 3,000 spaces in private daycares.

These measures are beneficial to Quebec families. However, they do not solve one of the most pressing and worrisome issues of childcare in Quebec: the quality of care in private facilities.

Finally, Premier François Legault campaigned on the promise of developing the preschool system for kids of age four. But the educational support and equipment in preschools are poor as per the study by the Observatoire des tout-petits. Children in CPEs receive a better education than children in preschools.

Too many families struggle to find decent daycare. Low-income parents rarely have the time and money to invest in finding a good option and potentially commuting to get there. More CPEs have to be established to foster the needs of Québec children, especially in underprivileged neighbourhoods. And the bar needs to be raised with respect to the regulation of private daycares. The future of the next generation is at stake.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Opinions

Keep Concordia in mind this summer

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

It’s the end of another great year at The Concordian. While we’re sad to say goodbye, we thought we could dedicate this final editorial to the important issues that have been discussed on campus throughout the year.

We know how easy (and satisfying) it is to finally leave exam halls, submit final assignments and close the doors on Concordia at the end of each semester. It’s an exhilarating feeling to embark on our summer vacations, whether they consist of binge-watching Netflix or travelling the world. But, we at The Concordian think it’s vital to keep some things in mind even while we step away from our university this summer.

This year was…eventful, to say the least. We’re proud to have covered and highlighted important issues in our newspaper, from the significance of sustainable foods, to Concordia’s ways of handling sexual misconduct allegations. We think it’s important to leave you with a few key issues to keep in mind while away from Concordia.

First, the Task Force on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence will be taking place until May 2018. These allegations regarding Concordia’s creative writing department were significant in raising awareness about sexual misconduct at our university. It highlighted how power abuses can lead to dangerous environments for students. Ultimately, it opened our eyes to how Concordia can sometimes fail at addressing such allegations in the first place.

Although we won’t be surrounded by the news every day this summer, it’s still important to check up on the Task Force’s progress addressing sexual misconduct at our institution. It’s our responsibility, not only as students, but as citizens, to remain aware and engaged in these issues at our university. While we commend Concordia students for speaking out against sexual violence and shedding light on this issue throughout the year, we hope students can continue to talk about sexual assault every day—since, unfortunately, it happens quite frequently.

We also hope Concordia students remain interested in the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) Daycare and Nursery Project. Although it was initially proposed in 2011, and has experienced many setbacks such as obtaining construction permits, we at The Concordian are still keeping an eye out for the project’s final establishment. According to a 2017 article by The Concordian, the daycare was supposed to open in March 2018. As we’re already into the month of April, it’s clear to see the project is still experiencing difficulties and obstacles.

The daycare would be an outstanding achievement by the CSU, and more importantly, it would help student-parents feel more supported by the school. According to a study commissioned by Concordia in 2011, student-parents comprise about 10 per cent of our university’s population. That 10 per cent of students are more likely to feel stressed by missing classes and exams and handing assignments in late because of their responsibilities as parents. This is all due to the university’s lack of safe and affordable childcare options, which is why CSU’s daycare project is so important.

We at The Concordian hope that this daycare can be established in the upcoming months. We hope students can continue to talk about this project, support it and help actualize it. It would be extremely beneficial for so many student-parents, and it will be a positive addition to our school.

There are many important discussions and projects happening at Concordia. Throughout the year, we saw students speaking out against unpaid internships, the importance of voting and environmental abuses. One such group highlighting environmental abuses is Divest Concordia, an initiative that calls on our university to end its investments in fossil fuels. The group has called on the university to make a decision on divestment and to announce whether or not they will be taking concrete steps towards more environmentally-friendly investing. Unfortunately, however, Concordia has been postponing the announcement—and still has yet to comment on its divestment. We believe that even though Concordia hasn’t made an announcement yet, we cannot forget about Divest Concordia and its important stance. We need to support such groups and initiatives in order to better our time at Concordia, and to contribute positively to our world.

So this summer, keep the conversation going. Keep speaking out against sexual assault; keep shedding light on racism and discrimination; keep supporting groups pushing for a better university; remind yourself to check up on Concordia’s steps in building a better environment for students. We know how easy it is to say goodbye, but we at The Concordian hope you choose to keep our university in mind this summer.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU daycare set to open its doors in March

Concordia Student Union daycare to open in March on Bishop St. on Concordia’s downtown campus. Photo by Alex Hutchins

Waiting available as of December, according to CSU coordinator

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) daycare is set to open in March, according to the CSU general coordinator, Omar Riaz.

The daycare, which was first proposed in 2011, will begin construction at 1424 Bishop St. after the building contract is approved at the CSU council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 20.

According to Riaz, the daycare will be able to care for 50 children at a time, and will accommodate newborns and toddlers. There will also be a study space on the upper floor for parents. The waiting list is set to open up sometime in December, Riaz told The Concordian.

Once open, the daycare will be subsidized by the CSU which will bring the cost below the government-subsidized rate of $7 per hour.

According to an article published by The Concordian in February, the daycare was scheduled to open this fall. However, Riaz said difficulties in obtaining construction permits and unanticipated structural work on the partially demolished building delayed the project.

Riaz said the project is still well within its nearly $1.5-million budget. This is despite the partial demolition of the original building having been discovered to cost $15,000 more than anticipated due to an incorrect quote for the project distributed within the CSU, according to an article published by The Link in December 2016.

The project is a welcome addition for many student-parents. While Concordia currently has a daycare located at each campus, the spaces are limited and the waitlists are long. Larissa Buss is an education student who has two sons, aged two years and three months.

She said her oldest son was on the waiting list for Concordia’s daycare service for a year and a half before being admitted. Waiting lists for other daycares are similar. “They tell you, ‘Put your name on the list when you’re pregnant,’” she said.

Like all international student-parents, Buss does not have access to subsidized daycare services. She said daycare services are “absolutely necessary” for any parent who wants to study.

Christine Manendez, who works at the Concordia University Student Parents Centre (CUSP), also testified to the difficulties of being a student-parent. She said Concordia daycare services never returned her call when she was a student-parent. She said many parents delay or forego their education because they lack the time and money.

The idea for the CSU daycare came about as the result of a study commissioned by Concordia in 2011, titled “Student-parents and their children: How can we help them? An analysis of the student-parent experience at Concordia University.” The study found that “many student-parents do not have access to flexible, affordable childcare that would allow them to attend classes,” due to limited daycare spaces and the students’ financial restrictions. Furthermore, the study stated that “student-parents frequently report missing class, missing exams, handing in assignments late and even dropping out because there are simply no timely, safe, flexible, affordable childcare options.”

Although Concordia does not track the number of student-parents currently enrolled, the aforementioned study estimated that student-parents likely represent about 10 per cent of the university’s student population, which is comparable to the national average of 11 per cent.

Photo by Alex Hutchins

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News

Daycare for student-parents to open in fall 2017

The daycare will be located on Bishop Street. Photo by Andrej Ivanov

CSU gets green-light from the city to open the downtown daycare

The Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) daycare will be opening its doors in the fall of 2017. The project was supposed to be completed before the start of the 2017 winter semester, but the bureaucratic process delayed its opening, according to the CSU.

“We got the go-ahead from the city for construction last week,” said Lucinda Marshall-Kiparissis, the CSU’s general coordinator.

“The registration form for the waiting list is also ready and will be sent out in the next CSU newsletter,” said Sophia Sahrane, the CSU academic and advocacy coordinator in charge of the project.

The project was proposed in 2011 after the Dean of Students office and the Concordia University Student Parents Centre conducted a study to determine whether undergraduate and graduate students needed a daycare. Although the study yielded a lot of positive results and got municipal approval, the initiative fell through.

In November 2014, the CSU asked students if they were in favour of a daycare that prioritizes student-parents. The result was an 87 per cent approval rate from students.

There is currently a daycare available at the Loyola campus, but only 25 per cent of the spaces are reserved for student-parents, according to Lisa Comerford, the executive director of the Concordia community CPE Les P’tits Profs daycare. The new daycare will be on Bishop Street, near the Sir George Williams (SGW) downtown campus, and available only to student-parents. The children of undergraduate students will have priority, but the CSU confirmed that some places will be allotted to graduate students’ children as well.

Marshall-Kiparissis spoke to The Concordian last September about the importance of having a daycare on campus. “Not only do these parents have a job, but they have a kid, classes to attend and homework to do,” she said.

The daycare will accept children under the age of five. The nursery will welcome infants under the age of 18 months. The daycare will employ a daycare and nursery manager, four educators, four educator helpers, one kitchen helper, a bookkeeper and an administrative assistant.

CSU is currently collaborating with the university and the Concordia Student Parents Centre (CUSP) to fund the project.

* This article has been updated for accuracy. The Concordian regrets the error.

Categories
Concordia Student Union News

What’s new with the CSU

The CSU executives preparing for one of their biggest year yet

For the Concordia Student Union, one thing is clear—students’ needs come first. Here is what you can expect from CSU’s coordinators this year.

Orientation Concordia

Orientation is the first big project for the CSU this year, as it will welcome students from all different programs starting next week. Rachel Gauthier, the student life coordinator, is currently organizing the 30 events that will be taking place from Sept. 6 to 16. These 10 days of activities include concerts featuring local bands, club fairs, a hip-hop show and a special night out to the OUMF 2016 festival.

It’s the first year that the CSU will be partnering up with the OUMF “Gala humour de la rentrée,” taking place on Saint-Denis street. “This festival is completely french, which is really cool because it’s something that was never done before, and Montreal is a bilingual city,” Gauthier said.

Another major event during orientation will be “Wellness Day,” which will include workshops focusing on mental, social and physical wellness. Gauthier said she wants students to know what resources are available to them, and to partake in activities that make them feel better.

For more information on the CSU’s orientation week, visit their website: csuorientation.ca.

Divest Concordia

The CSU has also partnered up with Divest Concordia, which aims to divest from the university’s investment in the fossil fuel industry.

“Concordia still has investments in fuel companies that are extremely harmful to our nature,” said Aloyse Muller, the head of the campaign and the CSU’s external affairs and mobilization coordinator. Muller said he wants to create social discussion about the issue through multiple avenues, one of them being from a financial point of view.

He also wants to put an emphasis not only on climate change, but on the communities that are affected by it daily. Open to all, Divest Concordia is looking for people to get involved  in various ways, such as discussion of the issues through art, demonstrations and petitions.

Sustainability at Concordia

Sustainability coordinator Lanna Galbraith said there are different projects in progress aimed to make students feel more comfortable and included at Concordia.

Starting in September, she said she hopes that the number of gender neutral bathrooms for students will increase.

Galbraith said there will also be emphasis on having a CSU that is more representative of the various cultures and ethnic backgrounds present at Concordia. She said the goal is to create workshops on social issues, now that environmental and economical topics have a good framework.

“I think it’s time to start a couple of social projects so that, when we think of sustainability, we don’t only think of it as environmentalism,” Galbraith said. In fact, sustainability is a balancing act that includes environmental protection, social responsibility and good economic practice, she said. Additionally, the CSU is working to make their office space more accessible for all students.

Affordable Housing for Students

Coming to Montreal for the first time to start university can be a bit scary, which is why HOJO, the CSU’s Housing and Job Office, helps students find safe, clean and affordable housing in Montreal. The union will be partnering up with UTILE (Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant), a non-profit organization based in Montreal dedicated to creating affordable student housing. Their goal is to build student housing with below average rent that will be managed by students, said the CSU’s General Coordinator, Lucinda Marshall-Kiparissis. “By building cooperative student housing that is not beholden to commercial interest, we’re able to say that we want affordable housing for students, and we want it so we’re not being a detriment to the neighbourhood,” she said. UTILE already purchased land on the plateau, but the project will take two to three years to really take off, she said.

Daycare

With a daycare already available at Loyola Campus for faculty and staff, CSU is taking the initiative to bring a daycare to the Sir George Williams (SGW) downtown campus for students with children.

Sophia Sahrane, the academic and advocacy coordinator, is currently working on this project. “This project was launched eight years ago when the university conducted a study to see if the undergraduate and graduate students needed a daycare,” she said. “The study yielded positive results and earned municipal approval, however, the initiative faded and nothing happened.”

“Not only do these parents have a job, but they have a kid, classes to attend and homework to do,” the CSU’s general coordinator, Marshall-Kiparissis, added. Sahrane receives emails from parents interested in the daycare on a daily basis. “We need the paperwork from the government, which should arrive soon, and then we will start demolition and open registration,” Sahrane said. She mentioned that the daycare will be located on Bishop street, focusing on undergraduate students’ children, but with some place for graduate students’ children as well.

For more information on these projects, the CSU encourages students to visit their website, csu.qc.ca. They have offices on Sir George Williams campus (H-711) and at the Loyola Campus (CC-426).

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News

Lending a hand to student parents

CSU initiative aiming for affordable, flexible daycare with students in mind

Back in 2010 a study commissioned by the Concordia University Dean of Students Office and Student Parents Centre outlined a lack of support for student parents at the University. Four years later, the situation has not improved—something the Concordia Student Union (CSU) is trying to change.

The study stated that many student parents did not have access to “flexible, affordable childcare that would allow them to attend classes, given that subsidized daycare waiting lists can be up to four years, and that private child care can cost upwards of $30 a day.”

Another issue cited in the study, entitled “Student parents and their children: how can we help them?” was that not a lot of childcare is available in the evenings, when many student parents take classes—all this on top of a lack of financial resources.

Over the summer, Terry Wilkings, CSU VP Academic & Advocacy, met with the director of the Concordia Student Parents Centre, where he came across the aforementioned study. “After reading the recommendations and realizing that the university hasn’t taken any concrete steps to support student parents in providing childcare services, the decision was made that the CSU must take action,” said Wilkings. “I believe it’s the role of the CSU to support students in achieving academic success; clearly, a lack of accessible childcare services is a major barrier that contributes to the difficulties student parents face while studying Concordia. Also, student unions at McGill, U de M and Laval already provide these services for their student parents.”

Back in September, CSU Council put through funding to determine whether or not opening a daycare would be possible. Wilkings explained that the research looked at “logistical, policy and budgetary needs for grants, subsidies, and government permits to operate.” The research also looked at how many children could be taken per year (there are three different proposals, one with 24 children, one with 50, and one with 80—this will all depend on startup and annual costs, as well as the physical space available); whether it would be possible to support children until they are 12 years old;  and what process would have to be followed so that the daycare could qualify as a CPE (centre de la petite enfance—roughly, early childhood centres). The scenarios all included evening care.

According to CUSP, about 10 per cent of Concordia’s students are also parents. Malene Bodington, who authored the study, works for the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and is a former student parent at Concordia, was surprised to find out that other students were dealing with the same difficulties she was. “I guess I thought my experiences were unique. To find that they were so common among student parents, and to see that for many it was much worse, was an eye opener,” she said.

When Bodington was a student, she and her husband had no family around to help take care of their son, and finding an affordable daycare turned out to be quite the challenge, despite tax deductions. “It was a mouthful to find $225 every week. It also took a long time to find a spot, so I was home with him for longer than we had anticipated,” she said.

The study also pointed out some of the issues with Concordia’s current daycare system. At Les P’tits profs, the Loyola campus’ daycare, only staff, students, and faculty who are at Concordia full-time can apply. The daycare takes 12 to 14 children a year (aged between three months and five years), and the waiting period is about two years. Evening daycare is not offered.  This is also the issue at the downtown daycare, the Centre de la Petite Enfance. “Considering the life-cycle of students, and the fact that children require supervision until they are much older than 5, these bureaucratic and practical hurdles are significant issues with Concordia current childcare services,” Wilkings said.

The CSU now finds itself at the point where they must discuss this project with the university. Wilkings is also waiting on the student body’s consultation via referendum before any moves are made.

Concordia President Alan Shepard would love to see more daycares for student parents. “I’m thinking about a drop-in day care. I’m not talking about a daycare where you can bring in [the children] … while you attend a class or go to the lab and so on. We’re talking about a much more episodic daycare. I think that would keep students, particularly part-time students, accelerate their progress towards their degree. It must be the case that if you have a young kid, or kids, at home, they come first,” Shepard said.

On Nov. 25 to 27, undergraduate students will be able to vote on whether or not to approve “the continued prioritization and active support of the establishment of a Daycare Centre as an initiative to improve student space on campus through the student space, accessible education and legal contingency fund.”

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