'It's frustrating and tiring': Another western Newfoundland daycare faces government delays

The Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation in Stephenville is trying to open a registered child-care centre in a newly leased building, but it's stuck in a limbo period while waiting on provincial government approval to move forward with renovations.

"It's frustrating and tiring. We are exhausted," Jeffrey Young, president and CEO of the foundation, told CBC News.

Young applied for the child-care capacity initiative funding through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in early January. 

The funding program is designed for not-for-profit organizations, like the Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation, to develop regulated child-care services where the need has been identified.

He said there was a strong response from staff in the regional office, but he is stuck waiting for an approval from the minister's office for the next phase of the project.

"It's been this ongoing … silence and no responses. We were initially told by one of the employees in the department to give it a six-month period for you guys to be open. That was in January. We are coming up on six months and we don't even have Phase 2 approved by the government," said Young.

The approval would allow renovations, staffing and furniture purchases for the newly rented space, which already has multiple conference rooms, playrooms, two kitchens, bathrooms and access to the outdoors.

Young said he has emailed and phoned the department's current and old ministers, and contacted opposition parties about his concerns.

Just 24 kilometres away in St. George's, child-care operators face similar frustrations with governments this month, as they wait to open a registered daycare to accommodate an already long waitlist.

• St. George's community sick of waiting on government approval for child-care centre

Young says he is getting calls and emails every day from Stephenville residents wanting to know when the daycare might open.

"We needed this daycare yesterday, not tomorrow. People are needing this service now. If the government don't speed things up, we are going to be losing people in our community, and maybe even our province," he said. "Because the services are not here. People want to go to work."

While the Education and Early Childhood Development departments wouldn't do an interview with CBC News, Angela Sullivan, a communications director, sent an emailed statement.

"The department carefully evaluates each submission to ensure a thorough and fair assessment process. The process considers overall project timelines, commitments to other child-care projects, and long-term viability of projects," Sullivan wrote.

There was no mention of the specific southwest coast daycare delays.

The Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation was established over a decade ago to preserve and promote the Mi'kmaw culture in the province. Members work on community-based programming and focus mostly on youth. The goal is to open a registered Indigenous child-care centre and offer the service and employment opportunity within the Bay St. George area. 

"They are not recognizing the value of the programming we want to offer," said chairperson Ang Brockway.

She says culturally relevant learning for children is always beneficial.

"We want them to learn from authentic people in our communities who grew up on the land and know these things. We are really committed to offering that type of learning and environment."

The Education Department says the government is focused on improving access to high-quality and affordable child care for families across the province, and it's trying to increase spaces to ensure families have access to child-care services.

Brockway says her foundation is sick of broken promises and their application is very straightforward with no requests for new builds or massive renovation costs. 

"They have agreed to the reconciliation piece. They have put it out there that they are ready to do this work. But we are coming up against these barriers that make us think … are you really ready to do reconciliation work or are you relying on the people on the ground working to make everything happen?" Brockway said.

"We could have [a] culturally relevant daycare, which is something our province is really lacking."

As for Young, he is sitting and waiting for government officials to call so he can move on with the next stage.

He says the organization has enough money reserved to rent the large building until the end of the summer.  

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