Lack of child care spaces hurts would-be migrants; People looking to move to city are stunned by lack of child care spaces
The Daily News -- Prince Rupert
April 16, 2007
By: Leanne Ritchie

Prince Rupert's critical shortage of child care spaces could hamper the city's ability to attract and retain qualified employees in the future, said advocates of Prince Rupert's child care community.

"Having high quality child care is of economic value to the community," said Emily Mlieczko of the Westview Child Care Centre.

"Even at my own centre, we are getting weekly calls from families that want to move here, come to our schools but they are looking for after school care.

"We have to tell them 'no in our community there are not enough spaces available.'"

Mlieczko, Judy Riddell, of the Berry Patch Child Care Resource and Referral, and Anna Falvo, Early Childhood Education Special Needs, spoke at a school board meeting last week about the huge lack of child care spaces in the community.

Mlieczko noted Westview is getting calls from families in New York, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and the Lower Mainland wanting to know if spaces are available.

"They asked us if there is any place we can put our children and we had to say no we can't accommodate you," she said.

Judy Riddell said it is imperative that the school board helps lobby the federal government not to cut funding for child care, especially given that quality child care helps prepare children to enter the school system....

Based on 2005 numbers and using a very low estimate that 40 per cent of children have working parents who need child care, in the infant toddler category, there are less than half the spaces available for the community needs.