KEEP THE DOOR OPEN
Friesen says more programs like the YMCA-YWCA’s current partnership with Assiniboine College — an 18-month program allowing ECEs to work three days a week while attending classes to upgrade their diplomas for two days — would help ensure childcare centres are properly staffed. “We want people that are trained and qualified,” she says. “There's a specialty to working with all age groups. A two-year- old can't tell you how their day was, so you are trusting really important people with your most precious assets.” Quality care is non-nego- tiable for parents, and Friesen says child care is directly connected to economic growth for any community because parents must feel comfortable going to their jobs.
Friesen says the YMCA- YWCA’s most well-known centre in Winnipeg has a wait list of 17,000 children — a dishearten- ing number when the ability to expand by even 100 to 200 spots is a challenge. Manitoba’s 2021 agreement with the federal government commits to the creation of 23,000 new openings for chil- dren under the age of seven at non-profit childcare centres across the province by March 31, 2026. “One of the things that we are advocating for with the province under the agreement is to have 100 per cent of capital covered because then we can expand way faster,” she says. Expansions of any size increase the need for quali- fied early childhood educators.
North American free trade gives Manitoba farmers the access they need to feed the world and fuel our economy.
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21 SUMMER 2026
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