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A French-language organization that runs 11 daycares in Sudbury, Ont. and surrounding towns has had to temporarily close three daycares in the last year and a half.
Stéphane Gauthier, the executive director of Carrefour Francophone, said he's been unable to hire enough early childhood educators to fully staff the daycares.
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In January the province increased the starting wage for registered early childhood educators by 19 per cent, from $20 an hour to $23.86 per hour. Registered early childhood education program staff who make under $26 an hour are also eligible for annual wage increases of $1 per hour.
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But Gauthier said the recent wage increases set by the province aren't high enough.
"We were already there, so it should be much higher, at least $27 an hour to start," he said.
He added that it's more difficult for French-language daycares to find qualified staff because not enough people are graduating from local programs, and there are fewer people in general who speak French in the region.
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Stéphanie Bossé is an early child educator with Our Children, Our Future in Sudbury, which runs daycares in both English and French.
Bossé said she became an early childhood educator nine years ago when she was unable to find a daycare spot for her son.
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Bossé said early childhood educators are underpaid for the work they do, which includes curriculum planning to help promote a child's development through play-based learning.
"It is very demanding work. I mean, you're dealing with all sorts of different children with different needs and it seems like the ratios, the numbers just keep growing," she said.
"It's just, it's not very glorified work I guess."
Bossé said some French-language daycares are now hiring staff who speak very little French to fill in roles that would be left empty otherwise.