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Less than a year out from a federal election, more than 700 child care advocates met for a three day conference in Winnipeg – with the goal of putting child care on the agenda for the 2015 election and having a system in place by 2020.
Childcare2020 – From Vision to Action – brought together early childhood education and child care workers, researchers, aboriginal leaders, trade union leaders and activists, politicians, and long-time and new child care advocates. The goal of the conference was to equip participants with the tools and knowledge to connect with voters in communities across the country on the issue of child care.
“Child care is a vital issue for our union – not just for the women of the union, but for everyone,” said Unifor Women’s Department Director Julie White. “If universal health care, pensions and schooling are all possible – only politics is standing in the way of creating a national child care system. We must remove this barrier.”
Unifor regional council women’s committee chairs – Brenda Mason (B.C.), Sue McKinnon (Ontario), Lisa Martin (Atlantic), Cathy St-Amand (Quebec) - also attended the conference, in addition to a number of other Unifor members and plan to help restart the pan-union child care campaign – Rethink Child Care. Unifor Economist Jim Stanford made a very well received presentation about the economic benefits of creating a universal child care system in Canada.
Conference speakers drew on the example of Quebec’s $7 a day child care program, showing that publicly-funded, affordable, universal child care is within reach.
Childcare2020 was sponsored by a number of organizations and labour unions including Unifor.
For more information about Rethink Child Care, click here.
