The Fort Smith Métis Daycare, which officially opened its doors on March 6, was two years in the making a project spearheaded by the Fort Smith Métis Council when they saw a need for more childcare options in the community.
Some advocates say a child care subsidy aimed at affordability is failing to address one of the top reasons parent's can't find places for their children to stay: there are too few spaces and daycares cannot pay staff enough to retain them.
Daycare operators in the N.W.T. say they were blind sided by changes in government messaging and a subsidy cap that makes it harder to earn a living wage which happened after the territory signed on to a federal deal to reduce costs for parents.