Forum addresses child-care concerns
Kootenay Western Star
By Elliot Robins
April 18, 2008

There are 217 child-care spaces in Nelson for 915 children between 0-9, leaving Nelson short an estimated 423 spaces.

Waiting lists are of six months to two years. Around 79.6 per cent of parents in the West Kootenay report having difficulty finding childcare.

The average Canadian government investment in children 0-6 is $2,500 a year, while the cost to keep a person in prison is $51,000 a year.

Politicians and community leaders gathered in Nelson to discuss these and other child-care issues at the Mayor’s Forum on Childcare...

A similar forum was held about a year ago.

“Clearly, the issue hasn’t gone away,” said Nelson Mayor John Dooley.

He said child-care issues have persisted for some time, mentioning it was an issue when he and his wife were raising their son, who is now in his late 20’s.

Lack of quality childcare impacts parents, children and employers, he said.

Parents who can’t afford child care are at times left with no other choice than to quit their jobs….

While many say child care in the West Kootenay is woefully inadequate, quality child care can be found in Quebec for a mere $7/day.

“If we could have something like that in our province, we would be light years ahead,” Dooley said.

Rosemont Elementary principal Deanna Holitzki emphasized the importance of quality child care and said children who received it were, among other things, better listeners, had the ability to express themselves clearly and tended to have higher literacy rates.

“From a school standpoint … we know children transition better into kindergarten if they’ve had quality childcare,” she said.

Holitzki also mentioned the impact child care, or the lack thereof, has on workers.

“The only way my husband and I are able to afford to work is because we have child care,” she said….