Work-Related Child-Care Centres in Canada - 2001 : Chapter III

Chapter III : A Study of 14 Workplace Child-Care Centres in Canada

Downs Children Centre
Assiniboia Downs
Winnipeg, Manitoba

The Downs Children Centre was the first child-care centre in North America to open on a racetrack site. The working conditions of racing people are unique, and the centre has done well in adapting to these conditions.

The Work Environment

The Assiniboia Downs racetrack is a not-for-profit organization managed by the Manitoba Jockey Club. A number of employers operate at the racetrack site. These include the Manitoba Jockey Club, the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society, the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, veterinarians, trainers and the Manitoba Horse Racing Commission. Together, they employ roughly 1,000 people.

Because of the nature of the horse-racing industry, the workers’ schedules vary greatly. Activities at the track take place from 5:30 a.m. to midnight. Some people work in the daytime and others in the evening. Some employers work on race days only or on shifts, and others work a traditional nine-to-five schedule. The number of workers at the track also varies depending on the time of year. The racing season runs from early May to early October. The Downs Children Centre has adapted its operations and services to the specific working conditions of the workers in this industry.

The Child-Care Centre

History

The child-care centre project began in 1980. A person working at the racetrack had sent a letter to the Director of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, an organization of racetrack workers. The letter outlined the need for an accessible child-care service for track workers. Subsequently, a vote was held, and the project was approved by a narrow margin. A committee was then formed to set up the child-care centre. The Downs Children Centre opened a year later in 1981.

Operation of the Centre

The child-care centre is a not-for-profit corporation and has charitable status. It is managed by a Board of Directors. The by-laws state that at least 40% of Board members must be parents working at the racetrack (usually 3 or 4 members), 10% must be parents from the community at large (usually 1 or 2 members), and 10% must be members of the Board of Directors of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (1 member). An employee of the child-care centre can also be on the Board. By law, the Board of Directors of a child-care centre must have at least five members. However, the Board of the Downs Children Centre has seven because some members come from outside the Winnipeg area and are not always available. The Manitoba Jockey Club and the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association serve as the institutional links between the centre and the racetrack as a workplace.

The centre is located on the Assiniboia Downs site between the track and the stables. It is housed in two former tack houses that are connected; an extension was added in the early 1990s. Today the centre occupies nearly three times as much space as it did when it opened. Children can see the racetrack from the centre’s yard and are happy to be able to watch their parents working on the track. Because it is located on the racetrack grounds, the centre benefits from the presence of security staff and a visitor-identification service during the summer, which most parents appreciate.

The centre accepts children between 12 weeks and 12 years of age. About two thirds of the children attending the centre have parents who work at the track, and the rest are from the community.

Because of its distinct clientele, the Downs Children Centre is called upon to provide special services. For example, children younger than twelve weeks of age have been accepted with the approval of the Child Day Care Branch of Manitoba Family Services. This may be necessary if the mother is breast-feeding and the child needs to be nearby, or in cases in which the mother is not entitled to maternity benefits and has had to come back to work shortly after giving birth.

The number of children allowed under the centre’s licence varies during the year to accommodate the horse-racing schedule. The centre can take 34 children at a time in winter and 55 during the racing season. It can accept up to 12 infants. In the summer, some 70 children are registered at the centre, and they come when their parents need the service. On race nights, roughly 25 children are being cared for at the centre. Some spaces are left unfilled to accommodate racetrack workers as required.

The centre’s hours of operation reflect the working conditions in the horse-racing industry. The centre is open seven days a week. In the winter, the hours of operation are 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. In the summer (June 15 to October 1), the centre opens at 5:30 a.m., and the hours are extended to midnight on race days and 7:00 p.m. on Sundays. Children from the community also have access to the centre on race nights. The time that the children spend at the centre depends on their parents’ schedules. For example, children whose parents have to feed the horses come in when the centre opens, leave at about 10:30 a.m. and then come back to end the afternoon at the centre. Some seasonal employees work at the track in the summer and use the centre only during that season. Others hold another job in Winnipeg in the off-season, and their children stay at the Downs Children Centre year-round. Some workers are in the Winnipeg area for only a few weeks each year, depending on the type of racing they are involved in. They generally inform the centre staff of their need for child care in advance so that a space can be reserved for them.

According to the centre’s director, a significant proportion of the people working at the track are single mothers. The existence of the centre and its hours of operation allow them to work at the track even though they have children. Finding a child-care centre that opens at 5:30 a.m. or closes at midnight is not easy, especially when parents don’t know when they will be working until a few days in advance, as is the case with many workers in the racing industry.

School-age children whose parents work at the racetrack can register for before- and after-school care. The Downs Children Centre provides transportation to two schools in Winnipeg. Only those two schools can be served because they are close to each other and have different schedules.

The Relationship Between the Centre and the Racetrack

The Downs Children Centre has adapted to the lifestyle of the people who work at the racetrack. The relationship between the two entities is close and mutually beneficial with respect to both administration and services.

There are a number of aspects to the relationship between the centre and the track, besides the fact that a representative of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association sits on the centre’s Board of Directors, and that horsemen’s children have priority over space.

When the centre started up, it received an interest-free loan from the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, in addition to a grant from the Manitoba government. The loan from the Association has been repaid in full. The sponsors of the child-care project also received donations from some of the horsemen.

Today the centre pays no rent, and it receives all or part of the profits from a number of activities held at the track during the year. These include profits from the summer horseshoe tournament, the Horsemen’s Award Banquet and the annual Jockey Club dinner. At some events, draws are held with half of the profits going to the centre.

Until 1993, the track had been a family-owned business. It is now managed by a not-for-profit organization. The current director of the centre says that she sees a difference between the two structures as far as the relationship with the centre is concerned. Today, the profits generated by the racetrack are reinvested in the business. This means that the directors can be more generous with respect to the centre, given the track’s not-for-profit status. For example, the track’s Board of Directors donated a surplus van to the centre.

Problems and Challenges

The Downs Children Centre must deal with some of the same problems that other centres in Manitoba and Canada experience, while facing its own unique challenges.

The lack of qualified workers is a serious problem in Manitoba. In 2000, the provincial government took steps to resolve the problem, and results should be seen in a few years. In 1996, the lack of available staff led the Downs Children Centre to ask the Manitoba Horse Racing Commission to authorize opening its doors to children whose parents didn’t work at the racetrack so that it could operate year-round. Offering year-round jobs makes it easier to attract staff. The fact remains, however, that because the number of children it cares for increases in the summer, the centre has to search for qualified temporary staff every spring. Recently, it rehired the founder and former director to do some administrative work. This step was necessary to free up time for the current director to work directly with the children because it was impossible to find other child-care staff to perform these duties.

Like most child-care centres in this study, the Downs Children Centre experiences financial problems. Although it receives a provincial operating grant, the centre has to carry out fund-raising activities, as noted earlier. It also uses the provincial and federal governments’ summer employment programs for students.

Because of its location, the Downs Children Centre has to contend with some specific problems. The centre is not located close to a bus route, which makes it more difficult to attract children and staff. This is the case for two reasons. First, the centre is not readily accessible by public transportation. Second, because it is not in a highly visible location, it is often overlooked as a potential source of employment and child care.

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