Families and children will soon benefit from a new child care centre with 36 licensed child care spaces in downtown Kamloops.

“Creating new child care spaces takes dedication, collaboration and perseverance,” said Rohini Arora, parliamentary secretary for child care. “The people behind this project put in tremendous effort to bring it to life. Their hard work helps ensure more families in Kamloops have access to affordable and high-quality child care.”

The Province partnered with the City of Kamloops to create new child care spaces through an investment of more than $416,000 from the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund. The fund is jointly supported by provincial investments and federal funding provided under the 2021-22 to 2025-26 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

“These additional spots are a game-changer for families in Kamloops,” said Jenna Sudds, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. “Affordable child care is a necessity, and we will keep working to make it a reality for more families in British Columbia and across the country.”

The new centre includes 12 infant-toddler spaces and 24 spaces for children from age three to kindergarten.

“The YMCA is thrilled to be engaging with the City of Kamloops to open a new and much-needed child care facility for families in Kamloops,” said Lynette Mikalishen, director, child care service, YMCA BC. “We are prepared to bring our wealth of experience, highly trained staff, unique curriculum and community passion to providing a safe and comfortable environment where children can learn and grow.”

Since 2018, ChildCareBC-accelerated space-creation programs have helped fund more than 40,000 new licensed child care spaces in B.C., with more than 23,000 spaces open and providing care for children. Funding new child care spaces is part of the Province’s ChildCareBC plan to build access to affordable, quality and inclusive child care as a core service for families.

Learn More:

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

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

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