Daycare staff get low pay, no respect

A Star investigation published this week uncovered a litany of serious problems in some of Toronto's daycare centres. (Children's Village pictured was not among them).

Experts say problems in Ontario daycares are the result of a child-care crisis in Canada caused by chronic under-funding. A major international study last year ranked Canada at the bottom of a list of 14 industrialized nations when it comes to spending on early childhood education. The study, conducted by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), found Canadian child-care services rely on underpaid workers, high parent fees and small subsidies.

"We're not even in the game," Martha Friendly, a child-care advocate and co-ordinator of the Toronto-based Childcare Research and Resource Unit, said in an earlier interview with the Star.

"We're the lowest spender, which shows how much value we place on it."

"We get no respect here. We are looked at as just babysitters," says Lindsay Linton, 27, an assistant working out of the infants room at Children's Village.

LINK: Toronto Star