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Early childhood educators at daycares across Nova Scotia should soon see an extra paycheque in their bank accounts, according to the cabinet minister in charge.
“We expect the money to be sent out to the employers in the next few weeks, and they’ll disperse it to their employees,” Brendan Maguire, minister of early childhood development, told reporters Thursday.
Maguire’s department says it expects to send out about $12 million in retroactive wages and benefits. It’s currently verifying the information sent in by employers. The money is related to wage increases tied to the federal childcare agreement.
The wage bump goes back to 2024, and delivering the money has been in the works since last November. But daycare operators said that for many months, they did not receive direction about how to deliver the necessary information to the province.
Last month, the province provided guidelines, but operators said they were unclear and poorly communicated.
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Janessa Williams said after she and others raised their concerns, she’s been pleased with the department’s response.
“They apologized for that and any undo stress to operators,” said Williams, co-chair of the Nova Scotia Non-Profit Directors Association and executive director of Needham Early Learning Centre.
She said the backpay will be a relief to daycare workers.
“Everyday there was another teacher in my office asking about it, [saying] why they need the money, how they’ve been depending on this money,” she said in an interview.
“As much as early childhood educators have been recognized and wages have increased over the years, it’s still not a living wage for some, so having this retroactive payment to educators is very vital.”
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Not all daycare workers are unionized, but about 3,500 are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which has estimated each worker is owed an average of $1,000.
Although she’s mostly pleased to see the issue nearing a resolution, Williams said she remains disappointed on one point.
She said the government is only delivering retroactive pay through daycare workers’ current employer, meaning any worker who moved daycare centres between April 2024 and November 2025, or who worked at a centre that closed in that time, will miss out.
“I believe that every educator in Nova Scotia who worked should receive that retro pay,” she said.
Maguire called it an ��“unfortunate necessity.”
“What we’re trying to do is have as little negative impact as possible and get this money out to as many people as possible,” he said.
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