Specialised support in day camps: the UMQ calls on the government

The Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) is calling for more resources to be given to the many municipal day camps operating in the province.

Every summer, these day camps welcome more than 275,000 young people across the province.

The UMQ reports that two-thirds of its members have seen an increase in the number of children requiring specialist support. However, current subsidies only cover around 27 per cent of actual needs.

The $6.7 million allocated annually for municipal day camps across the province is no longer enough to meet the growing demand, according to the UMQ.

The UMQ welcomes the additional $3 million in funding to add resources by 2025, but Delson Mayor Christian Ouellette, a member of the UMQ executive committee, is sounding the alarm about the sustainability of municipal day camp services.

“It meets 40 per cent of the demand. That means that nearly one child in two with special needs will be turned away. Then, next year, we’ll go back to 27 per cent because we’ll still be living on our $6.7 million, which is not indexed,” explained Ouellette in an interview with La Presse Canadienne.

The UMQ is calling for a specific funding stream dedicated to support programmes set up by municipalities for day camps, as part of the financial assistance programme for recreation for people with disabilities (PAFLPH).

Christian Ouellette would also like to see greater collaboration between all the players involved, particularly in terms of sharing facilities for day camps.

An appeal

“We’re also calling on the Ministry of Education because we have a problem with premises (…) When we raise our hand and say “are our school service centres prepared to share premises”, that’s not the case. In many Quebec municipalities, it’s impossible to reach agreements,” lamented the mayor of Delson, a municipality on Montreal’s south shore.

Added to this are the challenges of recruiting and retaining qualified staff to accompany all the children.

“We’re (also) calling on the Ministry of Health because, in the day camps, the carers are between 15 and 20 years old, and we need training. When we talk about having counsellors for children with special needs, we’re no longer talking about having one day camp counsellor for every eight to ten youngsters. We’re talking about one for one or one for two. It takes a lot more human resources, which is why costs are skyrocketing,” said Mr Ouellette.

To date, 40 per cent of children in Quebec attend municipal day camps, according to UMQ figures.

“We are asking the government to regularise this (editor’s note: the funding). The towns are on board. It’s a service that’s much appreciated by the public, that’s accessible, and we have to try to keep it that way,” concluded Christian Ouellette, who is also president of the UMQ’s Commission de la culture, des loisirs et de la vie communautaire.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews