A local unlicensed daycare operator is fighting to stay open.

Since the provincial government introduced the pre-primary program to Nova Scotia back in 2017 parents have flocked to the no-cost program. Katelyn Leslie, owner of Little Hearts preschool in Liverpool says that leaves operators of unlicensed pre-schools out in the cold.

“The choices that I’m facing now are [sic] losing my business to someone else. Because what they are doing and what they’ve told me, is that they want to make the early childhood field more into a field like public education and public health,” said Leslie.

Nova Scotia was the second province to sign on to the $605 million Canada Wide Child Care Agreement. Initially, for-profit daycare centres were told they would have to move to a non-profit model to be eligible to receive funding. But that changed after discussions between operators and government officials opened the door for licensed operators to participate in the program.

However, none of that helps an unlicensed operator like Leslie. She wants to work within the system and has been trying to complete the process to become a licensed operator since 2020.

Leslie says numerous e-mails and phone calls to her government contact went unreturned for weeks. When she did hear back, the news wasn’t good.

“So, when she finally got back to me, the news was, I could not get licensed on my own. I would have to merge with a completely different company that was going to be under this umbrella like the YMCA or something like that,” said Leslie. “So, I would no longer be the owner of my business or anything like that. It wouldn’t be mine.”

Little Hearts Preschool sign on display. Photo by Katelyn Leslie.

Leslie says she built the business up on her own with the help of family and friends and doesn’t want to just sign it over. She wants parents to have an alternative to the play-based learning model used in the pre-primary program.

Leslie provides more structured class time and takes children on field trips around the community. She’s asking people to write letters to Premier Tim Houston and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in support of her work.

“There is a need here in this community and I’ve been trying to fill it but with these new rules I can’t expand at all so I can’t take any more children. So, I’m having to turn them away and then there’s nowhere else for them to go,” said Leslie.

When approached for comment on this story a spokesperson from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development issued the following statement:

“We recognize and value the important role child care operators play in caring for our children. Government signed Nova Scotia’s $605-million Canada Wide Child Care Agreement with the Federal Government last July and a temporary pause was placed on issuing new licences to reflect the terms of this transformative Agreement. We want all operators to succeed and be part of the 5-year journey we are on to transform child care. We have been in touch with this operator and are eager to speak with all unlicensed operators and encourage them to reach out for information on the benefits of becoming licensed and the paths available.”

The spokesperson says to expect more announcements in the coming months about changes to preschool programs.

For now, Leslie is just looking for more certainty.

“It’s really hard to know what’s going on because they tell you different things all the time,” said Leslie. “That’s why I’m not really fully sure of everything.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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