Hildebrand hoping to put daycare safety on AMM’s radar
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2025 (246 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Brandon city councillor plans to bring up daycare safety at the next meeting of Manitoba municipalities.
Coun. Greg Hildebrand (Ward 5) told the Sun on Wednesday that he is looking for ways to increase safety at daycares after a Brandon daycare operator was charged with producing child abuse material with kids under his care. The councillor will bring a motion for consideration in June.
“There’s unlicensed daycares which we know are always going to exist,” said Hildebrand. “But if there’s some type of planning or licensing or registration that we can put in place to prevent this type of thing in the future, then I would certainly want to champion that.”
When Brandon forwards the motion to the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the hope is that other municipalities will contribute support for the motion. If it gains traction, the AMM would then lobby the province to get involved.
Still drafting the motion, Hildebrand said the idea is not finalized yet. But some possible considerations could be introducing visits to daycares. Or, the AMM could take the request in a new direction such as to ask for more provincial dollars to fund licensed daycare and reduce the need for unregulated daycare.
Assiniboine College president Mark Frison in February told the Sun that the licensed college daycare has a waitlist of 492 children. A planned expansion is roughly set to open in 2028, which would boost child-care spots from 72 to a total of 288 across two separate sites.
Frison said the expansion is set to address a need in Brandon. He said the issue has been around for some time now, and pointed to his own experience.
“When I got this job in June 2010, I registered my own kids on the waitlist. I got a call in November 2012 … they were already in school by the time I got a call,” said Frison. “The (new Assiniboine College child care) seats would be a welcome addition to the inventory here in Brandon.”
Early childhood educators in February told the Sun that a lack of daycare spots can put pressure on parents.
Tara Mills, an educator and college professor, pointed out that unregulated daycare can become a necessity for Brandon parents who wish to continue working their jobs and paying their bills.
In February, the Brandon Police Service charged a 37-year-old man who operated a daycare out of his residence. Police charged the man on suspicion of producing child pornography with children under his care, as well as foster children he parented with a common-law partner.
The incident triggered a wave of concern in parents across the city, a child-care group administrator told the Sun that month. Hildebrand’s upcoming resolution for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities seeks to find any possible changes that could be made.
» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com