The City of Ottawa has adjusted and clarified child-care policy after a meeting with the Carleton and University of Ottawa graduate students’ unions.
The city modified the wording of the subsidy eligibility to include master’s and doctorate-level programs, according to the city’s general manager of community and social services Aaron Burry.
The policy now reads: “Students with a recognized post secondary degree, diploma and/or certificate, who meet the financial eligibility criteria, may also qualify for consideration for fee subsidy assistance subject to the review of the socio-economic needs of our community used in priority setting.”
While the policy does not mention graduate students explicitly, it does include them, according to Burry.
“It doesn’t mean that everyone will get a spot, but some graduate students that fit into the priority bracket will receive the subsidy,” said councillor Mathieu Fleury, whose Rideau Vanier ward includes the University of Ottawa.
Similarly, graduate student subsidies set to end automatically in May 2013 will instead be reviewed at the recipient’s yearly case assessment, according to Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) vice-president (external) Anna Goldfinch.
“I think our objectives [for the meeting] were met,” she said.
Although the policy has been changed to include graduate students, the word “graduate” has not been explicitly added to the policy, as the GSA website currently suggests.
Adding “graduate” to this section would “change the intent of progression through programs to employment,” according to Burry.
The GSA will now be lobbying the province for additional child-care funding.
“The system is underfunded and overwhelmed,” Goldfinch said.
Fleury and councillor David Chernushenko, who represents the Capital Ward including Carleton University, said they both support the decision.
“Ultimately what it comes down to is the city has a very limited budget. Of course it’s impossible to fund everyone,” Chernushenko said.
He said the city will continue to lobby the province to ensure everyone is at least partly subsidized.
Fleury said education and child care have historically been provincial responsibilities, and are now being put on the city.
“We have an amount of money and that equals an amount of spots, and then it’s established on priority,” he said.
“Our objective is to get coverage for all students.”
Goldfinch said lobbying for increased child-care funding began with letters to the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities by the GSA’s lobbying partners, the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, and the Canadian Federation of Students.
