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Good afternoon.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges for our residents and communities as we take the necessary steps to protect each other by staying physically distant and self-isolating.

For residents with children, there are additional and significant challenges now that children are at home as a result of school closures and the cancellation of many child care programs.

While some parents are able to care for their children while working from home - challenging as that may be - there are others, such as doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, water truck drivers, and so on, who must still work outside the home in order to provide the essential services that we all rely on, and that will keep the people of the Northwest Territories safe and healthy.

These essential workers are now experiencing increased child care pressures as a result of COVID-19.

Many parents who are critical frontline staff are also putting in irregular and additional hours at work in order to respond to the ever-evolving COVID-19 situation and to the increased demands on the healthcare system.

Normally, some of these pressures could be mitigated through staggered shifts, after-school programs, and care provided by friends and family.

For many parents, those options are no longer available due to the need for self-isolation and physical distancing.

Supporting access to child care for parents who are providing essential services in response to COVID-19 is critical for us to be able to address this public health emergency.

Today, I am pleased to announce over $5 million in additional funding to help those parents continue to access child care as they respond to COVID-19.

In consultation with childcare providers, the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment, and the Department of Finance have worked together to develop four (4) temporary child care programs that will support access to child care for essential workers, and will lessen the negative financial impacts of COVID-19 on licensed early learning and child care programs.

First, we will subsidize an additional 33% of the child care costs for parents who are required to physically attend work during COVID-19. This is on top of the per child subsidy that is already provided directly to childcare programs to help lower the fees they need to charge to parents.  

Second, we will increase to the Staff Grant Wage Subsidy program to provide up to an additional $1,000 a month to child care workers, to ensure programs are properly resourced - especially during non-regular hours, when essential shift workers need their child care services the most.

This Staff Grant Wage Subsidy is typically only available to staff in licensed centre-based programs, but the increase will also be made available to family day home operators, so we can mitigate the impacts of lost child care fees on their program sustainability.

Third, we will make $665,000 available to licensed child care programs to be used for additional cleaning supplies and labour needed for enhanced disinfecting regimes at child care centres. This money will also be used to purchase personal protective equipment for staff and clients.

Finally, we will provide a subsidy to partially offset fixed costs, such as rent and utilities, for licensed early learning and child care programs that have closed due to COVID-19.

This is intended to prevent these costs from being passed on to parents who want to keep their child care spots at closed centres. It will also bolster the ability of programs to eventually re-open, which will be essential to our economic recovery.

We will continue to listen and respond to the needs and concerns of parents and child care providers across the territory as we move forward in our efforts to address COVID-19.

I want to thank each of our essential workers, including our child care providers, for helping us get through these unprecedented and challenging times, together.

We need each and every one of you, and will continue to find ways to support your vital efforts as you serve and protect our residents throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.