Smithers child care programs will be cut
Cariboo Press -- Smithers Interior News
24 Jan 2007

Smithers child care programs will be axed and child care workers will be laid off after a massive budget cut was announced by the provincial government earlier this month.

As of April 1, funding for Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) programs in B.C. will be reduced to pre-Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (ELCC) levels which mean CCRR programs must operate at a budget of $3 million versus the previous budget of $14 million, said Smithers and Area CCRR program manager Rae Lynn Varga.

"It is our strong belief that when Minister of State for Child Care Linda Reid made the announcement that the province has decided to focus on the vulnerable child in B.C. they did not realize every child in B.C. is vulnerable," Varga said. "Every child is in need of care and support. Child care resource and referral programs provide this and are foundational in supporting the early years of children."

Charlene Johnson, executive director of the Bulkley Valley Child Development Centre Society (CDC), said CCRR is one of the seven programs offered at the centre. Due to the cuts, three of their CCRR program workers will be laid off, effective April 1.

"It's a big loss for us," Johnson said. "It's a very, very sad day for me. To me, child care in B.C. is a house of cards and you pull out child care resource and referral and it's all going to crumble."

Specific programs such as providing support to families so they can access child care subsidies and assisting child care centres get up and running will be no longer offered at the CDC, something Johnson feels will affect those in remote areas and Aboriginals the most.

"The most dramatic reductions will be to the Hazeltons and to the isolated, rural communities that need us the most," she said, adding the CDC delivers programs from Houston to Kitwanga and north to Atlin.

The budget cuts were announced by Reid on Jan. 5 in The Reid Report. In it, she blames the cuts on a reduction in federal government child care funding.

Among the programs that families in Smithers will no longer have access to, Varga said, are: outreach services for small, hard-to- reach communities; child care referrals; parent education and workshops; and free drop-in programs for families and their children.

"As a result of this decision, children, families, child care providers, service providers and communities as a whole will lose the face-to-face direct service and support that they have had for several years," Varga said. "People will move back to telephone service and having computer access to some of the existing CCRR services may be a person's only option."

In the Skeena and Bulkley Valley region, Varga said, there are five CCRR programs that could have their doors closed in the next few months.

But child care providers in the Valley refuse to allow programs to be cut without taking a stand, Johnson said.

"We're already working on [lobbying the government]," she said, adding the CDC has developed an interim plan so they can continue to run some of the affected programs on a bare bones basis until September.

"We're hoping for a miracle and a back-up plan."