Iqaluit (July 28/03) - Day care centers in Iqaluit are full.

Waiting lists to get in to them are 20 to 30 children long, and have been like that for years, daycare workers say.

Parents are frustrated and daycare workers are feeling the strain.

"It's a huge problem," said Lolita Tait-Chegwyn.

The young mother just secured a spot in day care for her 14-month old daughter, Bret, after spending 20 months on a waiting list.

It was tough.

But she knows women who have quit their government jobs because of a lack of day care in Iqaluit.

"There is no availability in this town for infants," she said.

Veronica Angotingoar, who works at Ajajaa Pairivik daycare in Rankin Inlet, said day cares in her area are also filled to capacity much of the year.

"During the summer, the attendance goes down," she said. "Kids have their siblings to take care of them. But during the year it is full. Sometimes we can't even take drop-ins."

Angotingoar, who used to work at a daycare in Chesterfield Inlet, said Nunavut needs more new buildings to house day care.

"This one, like in Chesterfield, is an old house, renovated," she said.

"I think Nunavut needs new buildings for day care. We need more room."

Tait-Chegwyn has the same lament for Iqaluit.

"I've lived here seven years, and there's not one new day care."

Winnie Banfield, Early Childhood Development officer who oversees day care funding for Nunavut, was on duty leave last week visiting a day care in Cape Dorset and unavailable for comment.

Assistant deputy minister of adult learning, Kathy Okpik said the department knows of the problem with day care space in Iqaluit, but said the solution is with the community.

"We regulate and license daycares. We also provide start-up funding," she explained. "We don't provide capital funding," she said. "It's usually a community-driven thing."

Okpik said $1.773 million was allotted in the budget last year for operation and maintenance of daycares in Nunavut.

"Just from hearing around town, because I live here, I know there are waiting lists," she said.

When asked about solutions, Okpik said, "If there are interested groups in the community then we will assist them."

But to start a new daycare is not easy, said Rachel Clow, director of Pairivik Child Care.

Clow has 41 children on her pre-school waiting list.

"It takes people who are interested," she said.

"You know, 'Let's find the space and be the board.' Take the initiative."

Another day care is needed in Iqaluit she said. But there's less space than ever to build one.

"It's easier said than done," she said. "People have to be willing to take on the workload."

Meanwhile, day cares in Iqaluit have stopped taking names.

"I turn down two calls a day," said Mary Ellen Milley, director of Aakuluk Day Care.

Her maximum capacity is 30 children. She has no spaces, and said the wait is 1.5 to 2 years for babies.

"The last dozen names on my list are pregnant or thinking (of having a child)," she said.

"It's very difficult to get infant care."

When Alison Cormier, director at First Steps Day care, was asked about waiting lists, she said,

"Oh yeah, for sure. Always."

About 35 children are on her list now.

"Mostly under two (years old). I think all of them are. It's bad for parents who are trying to go back to work. It's not a good scene."

People have two choices, she said: home care or "not go back to work."

Adding to an already difficult situation, is the crowd of students and staff of the recently-destroyed Joamie school who are now seeking places to go.

A new elementary school won't open until at least 2005, and officials are scouring Iqaluit for any extra classroom space they can find.

"We have our fingers crossed," said Clow, hoping that her daycare won't be muscled out of their space to make room for those students.

Barb Parker, director of Inukshuk Infant Development centre, has 23 and six pre-schooler babies waiting for space.

"The daycare directors are getting frustrated," said Parker, "because we need more day cares in Iqaluit."

Parker also wonders if she'll be elbowed out of the way to make room for Joamie students because she is located in a prime location: Inukshuk high school.

"We are very concerned," she said. "We have to keep our fingers crossed. I don't know what's going to happen there."

Tait-Chegwyn knows she is one of the lucky ones.

But she continues to harp on the issue, contacting Norma Jean Johnson at the Iqaluit Child Care Association, and MLA Hunter Tootoo (a recent father himself) to get the daycare situation looked at.

Beyond the stressed-out working parents, she also feels strongly that in this packed-to-capacity time, daycare workers are not getting the respect they deserve.

"They are looking after our most prized possessions, our future of Nunavut," she said. "There's not enough of them, and there's not enough space."

Daycare workers make about $14 an hour in Iqaluit.

Many of them end up leaving their day care jobs for higher paying jobs, Tait-Chegwyn said.

"They should be paid more," she said.

The pay, coupled with the demands of the job are driving these workers away, Tait-Chegwyn said.

"I know of people that have been called to come get their kids at daycare because there wasn't enough staff."