Reimagining Care/Work Policies for Diverse Canadian Families

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred critical and much needed attention to childcare services as well as to wider sets of policies that address people’s paid work and unpaid care work. This panel explores three intra-connected critical pillars of Canada’s (federal, provincial, territorial) social policy architectures—childcare services, parental leave, and employment policies. We examine these in the context of COVID-19 and its long-term impacts on the lives of families and parents. We draw on research and analysis, including work-in-progress, that has been taken on, partly or wholly in response to the pandemic. We also highlight key issues that need to be considered in research, advocacy, teaching, and policy development as we look ahead to what policy supports Canadian families will need in order to live equitable, flourishing, and sustainable lives.

Chair: Andrea Doucet, Brock University

Panelists and Presentations:

1. Childcare of our dreams? Analyzing the first phase of building a Canada-wide childcare system

Susan Prentice*, University of Manitoba; Martha Friendly, Childcare Research and Resource Unit

2. Parents’ pandemic mental health: Differences in work-family correlates for mothers, fathers, and high-risk families

Sylvia Fuller*, University of British Columbia; Manlin Cai, University of British Columbia

3. Uptake of paternity benefits since the 2020 lockdown: Insights from Québec

Sophie Mathieu, Vanier Institute of the Family

4. Videos/learning: Knowledge mobilization through open educational resources

Lindsey McKay, Thompson Rivers University

5. Examining the stability and instability of child care arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

Busra Hacioglu*, University of Toronto; Samantha Burns, OISE-University of Toronto; Adrienne Davidson, McMaster University; Michal Perlman, OISE-University of Toronto; Linda A. White, University of Toronto

*Presenting Author

Tags: Canadian Sociology, Equality and Inequality, Parenting and Families, Policy

Organizers: Andrea Doucet, Brock University, Susan Prentice, University of Manitoba