Thirty-six children and their families in Lake Errock now have access to the new Sq’ewlets Child Care Centre.

“The Lake Errock community is benefiting from a new, culturally safe child care centre that can support families with affordable, quality and inclusive child care,” said Pam Alexis, MLA for Abbotsford-Mission. “With this partnership, we’re able to deliver the type of early learning and child care experiences that will help to strengthen the Sq’ewlets culture.”

The child care centre will provide 12 infant-toddler spaces and 24 spaces for children between three and five. This is a new construction project in the heart of the Sq’ewlets community. The new centre will benefit from a central location beside established community facilities in Lake Errock, such as a playground, administration building, clubhouse, covered outdoor space and sports field.

“This new child care centre will provide early learning for our children, including learning about their own heritage and culture, which sets them up for success,” said Andy Phillips, Sq’ewlets First Nation member. “It also allows parents to work knowing their children are receiving quality care. I witnessed my own children start their learning journey in child care and it carried them through university and beyond, and this will allow other children to get started in a good way.”

The centre’s programming will be inspired by the Aboriginal Head Start program, with children learning about Indigenous culture through activities, such as language learning, arts and crafts, traditional dance and storytelling. Children will also have access to a library to help develop their literacy skills with a Halq’meylem speaker visiting regularly to teach the Halq’meylem language.

Since 2018, ChildCareBC accelerated space creation programs have helped fund more than 37,000 newly licensed child care spaces in B.C., with more than 300 of these in Lake Errock and surrounding areas. Funding the creation of new child care spaces is part of the Province’s plan to build access to affordable, quality, inclusive child care as a core service families can rely on.

The Province and the Government of Canada invested more than $260 million last year to fund the creation of new licensed child care spaces in high-need areas throughout B.C.

Learn More

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

For more information about the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare/newspacesfund