Saint John's only francophone child-care operator calls for increase in wage subsidies

More immigrants are needed to support Saint John region's only French-language daycare services, but operators can't find enough without the province's help, according to one operator.

Michel Cote said L'ARCf de Saint-Jean has been recruiting French-speaking immigrants for about four years, but more than a dozen kids are still on waiting lists, and some are staying home with their parents because there aren't enough workers.

"So far, we have about 19 educators from around the world, and without them we wouldn't be able to offer the services," he told Information Morning Saint John.

According to Statistics Canada, fourper cent of Saint John's population is francophone approximately3,200 people.

Cote said thatin an anglophone-majority region, there's a lot of competition for local francophone workers, and the non-profit can't offer a higher salary to attract people without passing that cost on to parents.

"It's just not ethical to do that," he said.

Cote said the two francophone daycares, one in Saint John and one in Quispamsis, pay non-certified workers between $15.54 and $16.37 an hour as a starting wage. For certified workers, that increases to $19. 64.

He said the province pays about $5 of the non-certified salary, up to $7 to the certified workers. To help serve everyone who needs francophone daycare, that subsidy should double, he said.

That's "to bring it up to par with similar job in the school system," so workers don't leave for the higher-paying school jobs.

Department of Education spokespersonFlavio Nienow said the government's commitment to raise wages forearly childhood educators to $19 per hour was met two years ahead of schedule on April 1 of this year.

He said the wage subsidy program costs the province around $40 million a year. The province is also working on a certification program with the federal government that's "expected to help address recruitment and retention challenges."

Let's face it, we need newcomers to be able to supply enough workers.- Michel Cote,L'ARCf de Saint-Jean

Cote said the need for more workers is becoming more urgent as the federal government gets ready to roll out a $10-a-day daycare subsidy, which could increase demand.

Cote said his organization is a non-profit, so increasing prices would put a higher burden on parents who are already paying about $200 a week.

It's been difficult to recruit outsidethe country, and since the pandemic began, the organization has been doing a lot of interviews online.

Supporting the new hires

Cote said most of the newcomers, some from Africa, Congo and France, don't speak English so the organization has been trying to support them through an immigration network in New Brunswick.

This includes helping them prepare for a winter they may never have experienced before, and get their health and ID cards, for example. For now, one of the organization's employees is acting as a settlement worker and helping them go through the steps they may not be able to make on their own.

"Just transportation can be a big issue," he said. "They arrive and they don't have a car or drivers' license ... [Things] that we take for granted."

"We'd like them to have the same opportunities even if they don't speak English."

He says most of the educators come with their families, so they bring their kids to school.

"Let's face it, we need newcomers to be able to supply enough workers."

Most of the newcomers who come through recruitment stay long term, Cote said.