More families in Nanaimo-North Cowichan will save thousands of dollars per year as 40 local child care spaces convert to the $10-a-day program, helping familes get ahead and building high-quality, affordable and accessible child care as a core service in B.C.

“Everyone deserves the opportunity to pursue their education and career goals, and child care costs shouldn’t be a barrier to that,” said Doug Routley, MLA for Nanaimo-North Cowichan. “Through fee reductions, we are already saving many families in Nanaimo-North Cowichan hundreds of dollars each month, and, for many, these savings have been life changing. I look forward to seeing more $10-a-day spaces in our community as we continue to move toward implementing a truly universal child care system in B.C.”

Spaces in the $10-a-Day ChildCareBC program reduce the average cost of child care from $1,000 a month at participating facilities (for full-time, centre-based infant care) to $200 a month, saving families an average of $800 a month per child.

“Our governments are making affordable, high-quality, flexible and inclusive child care a reality,” said Karina Gould, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. “Through our transformative investments, we remain focused on making life more affordable for families and giving every child the best possible start in life.”

The $10-a-day program expansion represents further progress in partnership with the federal government under the Canada-B.C. Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. To support the goal of ensuring access to high-quality, affordable and inclusive early learning and child care, the Government of Canada is contributing $3.2 billion for child care in B.C. over five years through the agreement.

“Our motto has always been ‘family first,’” said Malinda Buck, owner, Learn and Laugh Academy. “With the recent skyrocketing inflation, it made sense to us to take the next step for our families, so they can afford to live comfortably. It takes a village to raise a child and we are a part of that village.”

The newly approved $10-a-day spaces at Learn and Laugh Academy child care centre in Ladysmith include 20 spaces for children two and a half years old to kindergarten age and 20 spaces for school-age children.

“The $10-a-day day care is a huge financial relief,” said Kelsey Burt, parent of two children at Learn and Laugh Academy. “Before I was hardly breaking even, and now we are able to save some money.”

More $10-a-day spaces will be created over the next few months. By the end of the year, the program will expand the number of $10-a-Day ChildCareBC spaces available for families in B.C. from 6,500 in April 2022 to approximately 12,500.

“We doubled the number of $10-a-day spaces earlier this year and will be nearly doubling yet again by the end of 2022," said Katrina Chen, B.C. Minister of State for Child Care. "Affordable child care can be life changing, and we’re one step closer to making that a reality for all families in B.C. The $10-a-day program and the significant fee reductions recently announced are both part of our plan to make child care a core service that every family can access and afford.”

In addition to these spaces, the Province, with federal funding support, is helping parents with the cost of child care at centres that are not part of the $10-a-day program through child care fee reductions of up to $550 more per month per child. These savings are in addition to the $350 per month per child that families have been saving through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative since 2018, and approximately 69,000 families will benefit.

Since 2018, the Province has invested $2.7 billion in the 10-year ChildCareBC plan to build a future where affordable, inclusive and quality child care is a core service that families can rely on.

Quick Facts:

• All types of licensed child care providers offering services to children five and younger were eligible to apply for $10-a-day program, with priority given to larger non-profit, publicly delivered and Indigenous-led providers in communities that do not currently have a $10-a-day site, and also based on population density, which aligns with commitments in the Canada-B.C. Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
• The cut-off date for $10-a-day program applications was Aug. 18, 2022, and more applications will be reviewed until the December 2022 target is met.
• Families making as much as $111,000 may be eligible to receive additional child care support through the Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB), with those making less than $45,000 receiving the maximum ACCB funding amount and paying nothing for child care.
• An average of 30,500 children received support through the Province’s Affordable Child Care Benefit each month in 2021-22.
• As of Dec. 1, 2022, fee reductions through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative will increase from up to $350 per child per month to as much as $900 per child per month, for a total of up to $10,800 per year in savings.

Learn More:

For more information about existing $10-a-Day ChildCareBC sites and spaces, criteria, guidelines and priority areas under this intake, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare10aDaysites

For more information about ChildCareBC, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare

For more about the 2021-26 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement: https://www.canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories/british-columbia-canada-wide-2021.html

For more information about Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care: https://canada.ca/child-care