Manitoba’s acting education minister defended the province against criticism it takes an opaque approach to child-care oversight during question period Monday.
The matter was raised by Carrie Hiebert, MLA for Morden-Winkler and families critic, citing a Monday Free Press article highlighting the lack of transparency around “trackers” the province uses when child-care centres are not meeting “key standards” or have “serious issues.”
“The NDP like to talk a big game about transparency. However, if you ask them to actually be transparent, you get silence, vague future dates and spokespersons,” Hiebert said during question period. “Why is this minister taking a secretive approach to the oversight of child-care facilities, as described by the media?”
In response, acting Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said: “There is no issue with transparency on this side of the house.”
The use of such trackers was discovered through a freedom of information request seeking insight into why the province said it would take more than 8,000 hours to compile and share child-care inspection reports. Internal emails shared in response to the access request suggested that the Department of Education and Early Childhood Learning uses the trackers to keeps tabs on facilities not in full compliance with standards, though staff continued to say it would be too labour-intensive to share all inspection reports.
Asked earlier this month how many how many centres are on the lists, a provincial spokesperson would not say.
Critics say this is part of a pattern of secrecy and poor record keeping that includes the department not making public inspection reports from child-care centres or knowing how many facilities have temporary “provisional” licences, issues raised during a Free Press investigation into the state of child care in Manitoba earlier this year.
“Parents deserve better, children deserve better and child-care staff deserve better,” Hiebert said.
She said the province refuses to say if it will stop “hiding” the list of facilities with deficiencies and asked if it will commit to making child-care inspection reports public.
Schmidt did not answer the question.
“The suggestion that we are being anything but transparent is absolutely false,” Schmidt said. “That being said, we are absolutely happy to work with families, to work with the sector, to ensure that if there are deficiencies, that they will absolutely be addressed.”
Currently, if the member of the public wishes to access a child-care inspection report, they can request it from the individual facility, but the facility is not required to share it.
In cases where a facility is not meeting standards as set out by the province, including child-to-staff ratios, criminal record checks, and health and safety requirements, these issues are are noted on the facility’s provisional licence, which is posted online. However, no details are provided and the issues are listed in regulatory jargon making it difficult to understand what the problem is and how it is being addressed. Other provinces share detailed information about child-care inspections including why the inspection took place, what issues were uncovered and how serious the deficiencies are.
In Manitoba, if serious issues arise, such as a child left alone for a period of time, it can result in a licensing order issued by the director of the early learning and child-care program. Details of these orders are made public and posted on the province’s website.
The Free Press asked again Monday if the province will share the number of facilities and names of facilities on its tracking lists or make inspection reports public.
A provincial spokesperson did not answer the questions but noted that licensing orders past and present are posted online. “Disclosure of this type of information is amongst the most proactive and transparent in Canada,” the spokesperson said.
katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca
Katrina Clarke
Investigative reporter
Katrina Clarke is an investigative reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press. Katrina holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Queen’s University and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University. She has worked at newspapers across Canada, including the National Post and the Toronto Star. She joined the Free Press in 2022. Read more about Katrina.
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