Grainswest - Fall 2022

Fall 2022 Grains West 24 FEATURE Then, of course, COVID hit and the ensuing shutdown of the scant existing child care facilities created a whole new set of challenges. At one point, Josefine strapped her youngest into a baby carrier and took him along on field trials. Kristie, meanwhile, had to contend with being thrown into the midst of a once-in–a-lifetime health crisis without parental supports. “During COVID is when I felt it the most,” she said. “The daycare closed during seeding. I work for Alberta Health Services, and they told us, ‘You are a front line worker. You have to be alert. Figure it out.’ I don’t think it was just nurses. Lots of women in many careers found they were front line workers. There wasn’t a lot done to help us during that time.” Five hundred kilometres southeast of the Bartletts, the pandemic had a very different impact on another farm family that took the opportunity to re-group, re-evaluate and take on new roles. At the onset of COVID Janine Paly handled the day-to-day management of her family’s mixed farm in the County of Thorhild while her husband Ian worked in the oilpatch. The couple’s long-term goal was to have Ian return to full-time farming, but when he found himself essentially grounded due the pandemic, the change came more quickly than anticipated. “He stayed home for about a year- and-a-half,” said Paly, a former Alberta Wheat Commission director-at-large. “That allowed us to expand our farm, and it showed him the value of being home.” Eventually, with the return to something resembling normalcy, the oilpatch picked up again. Ian returned for about six months, but he found himself on the road away from family one too many times. “That’s when we realized family came first,” said Paly of Ian’s decision to quit this past March. “He had indicated it was time for him to be full time on the farm and enjoy life with our children.” As for Janine, this past January she took the opportunity presented by Ian’s return to the farm to accept a role as an agrologist for Ducks Unlimited Canada. Given that their children, nine-year-old Annabelle and six-year- old Lillyanne, are a little older and becoming more self-sufficient, the Palys haven’t been in quite the same bind as many other farm families. She said although they’ve made use of childcare in the past, they’ve come to increasingly rely on extended family in the area to help with the kids. Paly also credited the shift to home offices and telecommuting with easing the transition. She believes companies and organizations have recognized staff can work efficiently from home. “That’s what has allowed me to work from home five days a week, or whatever the case is, and then just be with my kids and have that flexibility.” Yet, Paly’s experience dovetails with that of Josefine and Kristie Bartlett. All three women said when it comes down to the crunch, they overwhelmingly bear the responsibility for filling in child care gaps. “My husband and I try and balance where the children are during the day,” said Paly. “However, in the majority [of cases] the burden does fall on me. But it also depends on the situation. If I’m in meetings for most of the day, then my husband will take the kids out to the yard and just try and keep them occupied. But, if he’s busy and it’s just a little more dangerous of a situation, then the children will stay with me in the house.” All three husbands agree the greater burden falls to their wives. “It does really unfairly affect Kristie and other women in the workforce,” conceded Blaine Bartlett. “If childcare is expensive or unavailable, then she is the one that is going to be staying home. Which isn’t fair to her—she’s a professional.” Kristie “absolutely” believes our system shortchanges the needs of working women. When pressed as to what she thinks can be done to create more equitable policy, she is somewhat resigned. “I really don’t know how to answer that question. I honestly think it’s just a burden that you have to bear.” But what of the Alberta–Ottawa funding pact intended to invest more than $4 billion in Alberta’s childcare sector between 2021 and 2026? According to a statement from the office of Alberta Children’s Services Minister Matt Jones, fees for children from newborn to kindergarten have already been reduced by as much as one half. Paly said she doesn’t qualify for a subsidy, but both Bartlett couples confirm they have indeed seen major savings since the funding was announced. The Bartletts did note the lower cost of daycare has simply increased demand on an already overburdened system. Brady pointed out the capacity issue to his MLA Todd Loewen in an email. “I was really just emphasizing that effort or energy could be spent on encouraging the creation of registered day homes and that no matter the price these registered facilities were not available to us,” he said. According to advocacy organization Childcare Now, rural communities ultimately fall short in creating child care capacity because of the free market model. “It’s a patchwork system where there are a lot of gaps in terms of which communities have access to providers, especially licensed providers, versus unlicensed, which is really what you see in rural communities,” said Susan Cake. Cake sits on the steering committee of the Alberta chapter of Childcare Now. “If it’s not profitable, it’s not going to be there. That’s where you have large gaps in towns where there’s literally no licensed provider, or there’s one at max capacity and a bunch of other families are just using unlicensed because that’s what’s available.” While Loewen, who has since left the UCP to sit as an Independent, didn’t respond to Brady’s concerns, the Province said space creation is at