On April 18, the Saskatchewan government announced that nearly 600 of the 1,015 licensed child care spaces committed through the Canada-Saskatchewan Early Learning Child Care Agreement have now been allocated.
Communities receiving the spaces include Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Yorkton, Moose Jaw, Nipawin, Fort Qu’Appelle, Balcarres and LeRoy.
This agreement was signed with Ottawa earlier this year, and provides Saskatchewan with almost $41 million to improve early learning and child care spaces over the next three years.
READ MORE: 3-year $41M bilateral agreement to improve Early Learning and Childcare in Saskatchewan
“Affordable, high quality child care allows parents to work or attend school knowing that their children are being cared for in a safe and nurturing environment.” deputy premier and Education Minister Gordon Wyant said.
“We are pleased to inform communities across the province they will be receiving funding for additional child care spots. We are thrilled our children will be having fun and learning in these facilities in the near future.”
The Education Ministry said it continues to receive applications for child care spaces and will allocate more spaces later this spring. The application deadline is May 11, 2018.
Since 2007, the ministry said that funding has been allocated for nearly 7,000 child care spaces. In total there are almost 17,000 funded, licensed child care spaces in Saskatchewan.