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Immigrants hit hard by day-care shortage [CA-NS]

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CBC News Online
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Publication Date: 
21 Feb 2006
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A lack of day-care services is preventing some new immigrants in the Halifax region from learning English, the head of a language school says.

Gerry Mills, executive director of the Halifax Immigrant Learning Centre, told a legislature committee Tuesday that some new immigrants may never get the help they need simply because they have young children.

Mills said women who are trying to raise children on their own not only have to wait for a spot in the classroom, but that seat has to coincide with an empty day-care spot.

When Liberal MLA Diana Whalen asked why Nova Scotia does not provide money for more day-care spots, the executive director of the province's Office of Immigration, Elizabeth Mills, said basic language training is Ottawa's responsibility.

Elizabeth Mills later told reporters that her office hasn't asked for money specifically for day-care spots in the budget it has prepared for cabinet approval. She said she's willing to work with any agency that wants day-care money to help immigrants settle in the province.

- reprinted from CBC News Online

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