Child-care cash praised
Cariboo Press -- Kamloops This Week
July 22, 2007

A new $2.5-million agreement between the Ministry of Children and Family Development and B.C. Housing will help create between 20 and 25 new licenced child-care spaces in Kamloops.

The "innovative" partnership supports the creation of the spaces at one of Kamloops' six social-housing projects, said Linda Reid, Minister of State for Child Care.

Spencer Court at 1580 Summit Dr. is one of three centres chosen throughout the province to embark on the "new way of doing business," she said.

The memorandum of understanding between the government and its agency ensures that child-care centres at the centre in Kamloops as well as ones in Port Alberni and New Westminster, will operate for a minimum of 10 years.

Approximately 66 children live in the 46-unit Sahali development at any given time.

"I think there's great value, value-added housing if you will, to be able to have your babies, your young children, as opposed to putting them in a car and taking them to a childcare centre, actually walking them across the playground and leaving them in a safe and secure environment on your way to work or school, " said Reid.

"Having childcare where you live will be a tremendous gift to families," she added.

Mary-Ellen Everatt, director of the Kamloops YMCA-YWCA Childcare Resource and Referral Centre, said she couldn't agree more, but added something more needs to be done to benefit all families.

"There is a definite shortage of child-care spaces for families in Kamloops, " she said.

"Although this is a great first step . . . we still have a long way to go until we can get to a point where all the children in all the families that are actually seeking childcare -- no matter what income they come from, that they have spaces and the childcare that they need."

Everatt said the shortage of spaces in Kamloops is at about 40 per cent and she wonders how this is affecting families.

"This is a concern, because are parents not being able to go to work or school because of that," she said.

About two weeks ago, Reid said she toured two new day-care facilities in Kamloops (unrelated to the Spencer Court development) and found the child-care situation in the Tournament Capital is "great."

She reported the two, which include expansions at both Children's Circle daycare downtown and the Child Development Centre on the Holway Street, will be increasing 100 to 150 spaces and are expected to open this summer.