Tuesday January 3, 2022 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated Jan 4, 2022]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The BC Ministry of Education and Child Care is kicking off the new year with an announcement about child care access and affordability in BC.
The BC Ministry of Education and Child Care (under Minister Rachna Singh, who has been in the post for almost a month) and the federal Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development (under the politically seasoned Karina Gould) were quoted today January 3 in a joint BC news release about families in BC saving thousands of dollars per year as more than 1,375 child care spaces move into the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program this month of January 2023.
“These spaces will help reduce costs for families in British Columbia and further develop high-quality, affordable, accessible child care as a core service in BC,” it was stated in the release.
New spaces at these Victoria-area child care centres:
New $10-a-day child care spaces have been added at one location in downtown Victoria and at one location in Langford:
- James Bay Child Care Society (Victoria) – Infant Plus; 32 spaces (16 infant-toddler, 16 2.5-years-to-kindergarten-age spaces), non-profit
- YMCA-YWCA of Vancouver Island – Westhills YMCA-YWCA Child Care (Langford); 32 spaces (eight infant-toddler, 24 2.5-years-to-kindergarten-age spaces), non-profit
Affordability is life-changing:
“Affordable child care can be life-changing, and with these new $10-a-day spaces, we continue our work to make life more affordable for families with more spaces converted in the next few weeks,” said Grace Lore, BC Minister of State for Child Care.
“The recent child care savings and the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program are some of the ways we are making child care more affordable and allowing parents – especially mothers – to pursue opportunities and achieve financial independence and security, which benefits families, our communities and the economy as a whole,” said Lore.
Spaces in the $10-a-day program reduce the average cost of child care from $1,000 a month for full-time, centre-based infant care to $200 a month for the same service, saving families an average of $800 a month per child.
Federal support:
“Our governments are making access to affordable, high-quality, flexible and inclusive child care a reality,” said Karina Gould, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.
“Through our transformative investments, we remain focused on making life more affordable for families and giving every child the best possible start in life,” said Gould in the news release.
More spaces next month:
The newly approved $10-a-day spaces are being offered at 35 child care centres throughout BC, bringing the total $10 a Day spaces in BC to almost 12,000.
More spaces will be added during the coming weeks to meet the goal of 12,500 spaces by February 2023.
Continued federal support to March 2026:
The $10-a-day program expansion represents further progress in partnership with the federal government under the Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. To support the goal of ensuring access to high-quality, affordable and inclusive early learning and child care, the Government of Canada is contributing $3.2 billion for child care in BC through March 2026.
Child care centres weigh in:
“I’m very excited for Discovery Daycare to start the $10-a-day program,” said Christy Colussi, parent at Discovery Childcare Centre in Prince Rupert.
“As a parent, I have two children attending Discovery, so it saves us almost $1,000 per month. This will allow us to add to the children’s Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) accounts, as well as help us travel to see our extended family in Ontario.”
“I am so excited to have our day care accepted to be a $10-a-day centre,” said Lisa Pretulac, manager, Discovery Childcare Centre in Prince Rupert.
“This has been a dream over much of my 30-year career that most of us thought would never happen. I’m proud to provide this for our families and see it as such a positive step toward a quality, sustainable system of child care for both families and child care professionals,” said Preulac.
Other supports:
In addition to these spaces, the Province, with federal funding support, is helping approximately 69,000 families with the cost of child care at centres that are not part of the $10-a-day program through child care fee reductions of as much as $900 per month per child. Fee reductions were introduced in 2018 through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative and were further enhanced on Dec. 1, 2022.
All types of licensed child care providers offering services to children five and younger were eligible to apply for the $10-a-day program, including non-profit, private, publicly run and Indigenous-led providers. Additional consideration is given to providers in communities that do not currently have a $10-a-day site and is based on population density.
Since 2018, the Province has invested $2.7 billion in the 10-year ChildCareBC plan to build a future where affordable, inclusive and quality child care is a core service that families can rely on.
===== Quick Facts:
- Families making less than $45,000 receive the maximum Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB) and pay nothing out of pocket for child care.
- Families making as much as $111,000 may be eligible to receive additional child care support through the ACCB.
- The cut-off date for $10-a-day program applications was Aug. 18, 2022, and more applications will be reviewed until the target of 12,500 spaces is met.
- An average of 28,500 children received support through the ACCB each month in 2021-22.
===== Learn More:
- For information about existing $10 a Day ChildCareBC facilities and spaces, criteria, guidelines and priority areas under this intake, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare10aDaychildcare
- To apply for the ACCB, visit: http://www.gov.bc.ca/affordablechildcarebenefit
- For information about ChildCareBC, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare
- For about the 2021-26 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement: https://www.canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories/british-columbia-canada-wide-2021.html
- For information about Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care: https://canada.ca/child-care
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news service that covers news of the west shore, south Vancouver Island, BC and national issues.
Island Social Trends launched entirely online at islandsocialtrends.ca in mid-2020, in the footsteps of its predecessor publications MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013) and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Editor and publisher: Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | ARCHIVES: CHILDREN & CHILD CARE | EDUCATION | VANCOUVER ISLAND
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