Since launching in February 2018, the Childcare BC plan has enabled over 32,000 children to receive childcare for no more than $10 a day.

“Despite the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, our goal to create new child care spaces throughout the province continues to gain momentum,” said Katrina Chen, Minister of State for Child Care in the July 22 B.C. government announcement. “We’ve been able to fund nearly 16,800 new spaces in the past two years…”

The B.C. government recently made changes to the School Act to make it easier for school boards to create and operate before- and after-school care on school grounds. The changes will also require school boards to prioritize space that is not being used for K-12 students for childcare and encourage school boards to adopt an inclusive childcare policy. Advantages mentioned were maximizing the use of spaces already designed for enrichment and play, and the convenience for families of having one central drop-off location for their children.

Under the new policy, School District 68 (Nanaimo-Ladysmith) received 536 newly approved spaces to proceed with 10 projects to create licensed childcare spaces on school grounds in the recent round of funding under the Childcare BC New Spaces Fund.

In addition to the projects on school grounds, Nanaimo will receive funding through the New Spaces fund to support two non-profit projects, the Discover Montessori Society and the Nanaimo Innovation Academy Foundation.

Cynthia Dyer, principal and executive director of the Discover Montessori Society commented, “We are grateful for the investment by the New Spaces Fund toward the development of our Montessori Farm School Campus in Nanaimo. Our farm-based children’s campus will enable more families to have access to desperately needed infant-toddler, preschool and elementary child care spaces in the area. Designed with environmental sustainability and zero carbon in mind, the campus will be clean, bright and welcoming for children, and will offer many hands-on opportunities to connect students with nature.”

Through the New Spaces Fund, the Ministry of Children and Family Development is seeking to maximize the number of spaces in high need areas across the province by focusing on community planning and child care needs. The current application process for the Fund is open until November 1, 2020.

In other provincial childcare-related developments, as of January, 2020, the province of BC launched a new professional development program, providing more than 30 teaching specialists at community hubs throughout the province to support early childhood educators in keeping up to date on child care teaching trends and techniques. The province is providing funding for over 6,000 bursaries and workforce-development supports for students pursuing childcare careers and has provided funding for a $2 per hour wage increase (with effect as of April 2020) affecting more than 12,000 early childhood educators.