The provincial and federal governments have announced the establishment of 2,349 new federally-funded child care centre spaces across Saskatchewan.

Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill says an investment of $23.5 million will provide Saskatchewan families greater access to affordable, high-quality early learning and child care opportunities.

Back in 2021, the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan reached an agreement where the federal government would provide over $68.5 million over the next four years to increase access to affordable, inclusive, high-quality child care spaces.

The new spaces have been allocated to the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan government, which received 180 spaces. Fifty other organizations in 41 Saskatchewan communities will also be receiving a portion of these spaces. These communities will either build new facilities or add the new spaces to their existing facilities.

MN-S President Glen McCallum says various studies show that children who are raised with their identity, culture, language and values have a stronger chance of thriving. MN-S is now looking to acquire land in both Saskatoon and Regina for each 90-space child care centre.

The announcement is part of the shared goal of the federal and provincial governments to create 28,000 new child care centre spaces in Saskatchewan. The province will be looking to allocate almost 400 more funded spaces to additional organizations through an application process in the future.