June 18, 2021
School-Aged Children Allowed to Return to Child-Care Programs, Day Camps Following End of School Year
– – –Child-Care Facilities and Day Camps Permitted to Provide Services Again While Adhering to Public Health Guidelines: Squires
As the school year in Manitoba comes to an end, school-aged children will be able to return to their child-care programming and day camps will be permitted beginning on July 1, Families Minister Rochelle Squires announced today.
“We know a parent’s ability to work may depend on the availability of child care, and many parents use the day camps across the province as child care in July and August. By opening child care centres and day camps, we hope to provide options and flexibility to those who may need it,” said Squires. “I would like to thank all of those parents, as well as Manitoba’s early learning and child-care sector, for their flexibility to adapt to the advice from our public health officials as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Summer day camps for children aged 11 and under will be permitted to operate effective July 1. Day camps provide options for families whose children do not attend licensed child-care facilities and help alleviate some of the pressure on these facilities.
On May 12, the province made the decision to move all kindergarten to Grade 12 schools to remote learning in the cities of Winnipeg and Brandon. Further announcements were made about schools in other communities in the following weeks in response to increasing cases of COVID-19. These school-aged children were not able to access child care during remote learning, and this meant 13,198 school-aged child-care spaces were affected during the remote learning period.
“Due to the efforts of Manitobans and our vaccine rollout, COVID-19 cases are decreasing, which allows us to open these important services again,” said Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer. “Parents have had to navigate this pandemic while juggling caring for their children and I applaud them for their efforts during this challenging time.”
Currently there are no changes to cohort sizes for licensed child-care facilities, but day camps will be limited to cohorts of 20. These facilities are reminded to implement the measures outlined in the Early Learning and Child Care Practice Guide to ensure a safe and healthy environment for children and staff.
For more information on the current public health orders, visit:
https://manitoba.ca/covid19/prs/orders/index.html.
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