After two hours of heated debate last Thursday night, the Students' Society Legislative Council voted to expand the SSMU daycare service into Shatner suite 1100, bumping the McGill International Students' Network from their lounge.
The motion-put forth in a special General Assembly before Council's bi-weekly meeting-passed decisively with only one vote against and one abstention.
A nursery will replace the lounge space currently occupied by the MISN. The MISN lounge is located in the Shatner building, near the first-floor passageway to the Brown building. Catering to undergraduates, the nursery will have eight available spots for children aged four to 18 months. According to SSMU there are 14 undergraduate mothers on the waiting list. SSMU will begin renovating the space once the administration approves the switch.
As part of Quebec's publicly funded daycare system, the government will subsidize all of the new nursery spaces. Parents lucky enough to secure a spot will pay $7 per day for childcare.
"For SSMU, this will not have any financial impact. We will front some renovation costs, but all operating costs are completely covered by the provincial government," said SSMU Vice-President External Devin Alfaro.
Earlier this year, the Quebec Ministry of Family decided to expand subsidized daycare by adding 18,000 new spots before March 31, 2009. SSMU's daycare board applied for spots and received confirmation of funding in mid-August.
"We were the only daycare in Montreal to get spaces," Alfaro said. " We were prioritized because of the needs of an educational environment."
In her initial address at Thursday's meeting SSMU President Kay Turner implored councillors to consider the difference a nursery will make in the lives of student parents. She also mentioned SSMU's mandate-approved at a 2007 General Assembly-to support student parents.
"Is there a tangible need [for a nursery]? Is there a mandate? Yes there is," Turner said.
2008 Woodie Awards
Be the first to comment on this story