A Positive Start for the New Minister of Child Care in BC
It’s still early days of the new provincial government, yet already we’re seeing the first signs of a new approach to child care.
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Minister of State for Child Care - Mandate Letter
A Mandate Letter from Premier John Horgan to the new Minister of State for Child Care, Katrina Chen. Noteworthy and very important that the three main elements of the $10aDay Plan are provided as direction for the new Minister: Work with all levels of government, child-care providers, the private and...
Looking Forward to $10aDay Implementation!
After almost two months of uncertainty about BC’s political future, the Lieutenant Governor asked BC NDP leader John Horgan to form government. With the BC NDP’s commitment to implement the $10aDay Child Care Plan, the BC Green Party’s alignment on key aspects of the Plan, and the BC Liberals support...
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Today's BC Liberal Announcement
Families have been Waiting for 16 Years Throughout 16 years in government, the BC Liberals could have chosen to make quality child care available and affordable across the province. Instead, they allowed the crisis to grow, particularly over the last four years. While parent fees skyrocketed, the BC Liberal Government...
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Emily's Story
Many years ago I worked for a child care society that ran multiple child care programs in Northern BC and learned firsthand about the struggles small communities face in developing and maintaining trained Early Childhood Educators.
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Federal Multilateral Agreement
Federal government releases first National Early Learning and Child Care Framework in over a decade: SMALL STEP FORWARD – MUCH MORE TO DO! After a decade with no federal leadership on child care, the release of a federal-provincial-territorial Agreement is welcome news but the political flux in BC means our...
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Liz's Story
My husband and I had been told that care would be difficult to secure so I started looking when I was pregnant. I was on contract work and when our daughter was 6 weeks old I had to start working again, for 12 hours a week. We were on every...
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BC Aboriginal Child Care Society
BCACCS renews the From Seed to Cedar campaign The From Seed to Cedar Campaign is a chance for leadership and communities to support the creation of the IELCC framework, and especially the Child Care Providers who work so hard both to help children thrive and communities to re-establish Indigenous cultures. This is...
Child Care A Top Priority
Child Care was the top election platform spending commitment for both the BC NDP and the BC Greens, so it should be a top priority as they implement their Agreement. Recognizing the current child care chaos for BC families, the Greens and the NDP made election commitments to invest...
Majority of British Columbians Voted for Child Care
While the final seat count is not yet firm, one thing is clear - the majority of British Columbians voted for substantial new public investments in child care to: Make child care fees affordable Ensure quality child care is widely available Both the NDP and Greens made significant platform commitments to...
BC Liberals Expect Child Care Providers to Reduce Parent Fees
With no new public funds, BC Liberals Expect Child Care Providers to Reduce Parent Fees - Cut Caregiver Wages The BC Liberals say they will create 8,700 more child care spaces by 2020. To make child care more affordable for families, they expect providers to lower parent fees - on...
Kristen's Story
When I answered the phone, I thought we’d hit the jackpot. An open daycare space in Vancouver at a reasonable price? Amazing! Not the best location, but we could make it work. After all, it had been months of researching, making calls and applying for waitlists. And waiting. And waiting. ...
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Vancouver Dad's Story
The story of my family feels typically Vancouver. My wife and I are young professionals who, while not originally from this city, are hoping to stay here. But we’re not sure we will.
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Implementing the $10aDay Plan will make school-based Child Care Programs as secure as Grade 1
Media Release May 2, 2017 Statement on Child Care in Schools: The recent Supreme Court ruling on classroom size and composition means that there will now be more teachers and smaller classes in BC schools. That’s great news! But, as a result, recent news stories indicate that some school-based...
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Since you asked...
Here's our response to two common questions about making access to affordable, quality child care a reality in BC.
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BC Election 2017 Child Care Report Card
Child Care in BC today is in chaos. Sky high parent fees. Spaces for only 20% of children. Poorly paid caregivers leaving the field. The broadly supported $10aDay Child Care Plan is the made-in-BC solution. It’s based on the best global evidence that highlights the need for public funding to...
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Sara's Story
I had some sense that finding child care would be difficult, so at the very beginning of my pregnancy I started calling everywhere. It was very stressful to be pregnant be told that there was no space. Nobody was able to tell me there would be a space. I just...
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12 Flawed Child Care Statements by the Fraser Institute
12 Flawed Child Care Statements by the Fraser Institute: Summary of Rebuttal from Quebec Economist Pierre Fortin Fortin examines the 12 statements made by the Fraser Institute (FI) in a recent assessment of Quebec’s child care program. Fortin finds their underlying arguments are so flawed that the publication is “an...
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$10aDay Implementation Plan: 22,500 New Spaces, Affordable Child Care for 45,000 Families by 2020
Throughout 16 years in government, the BC Liberals could have chosen to make quality child care available and affordable across the province. Instead, they allowed the crisis to grow, particularly over the last four years. While parent fees skyrocketed, the BC Liberal Government consistently underspent their child care budget. They...
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Top 10 things you can do to support the $10aDay Plan
We’re only weeks away from election day in BC, and thanks to supporters like you the $10aDay campaign has built an incredible amount of momentum. Now we need your help to get to the finish line and make sure that this election, we make access to affordable, quality child care a...
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Sara Langois on the $10aDay Plan & keeping BC's economy strong
At our recent Stroller Brigade in South Vancouver, Sara Langlois spoke out about the need for the $10aDay Plan. Here's what she had to say: "My name is Sara Langlois, and I’m here today with my family, to talk about 10 a day and how adopting this policy is what we...
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Questions you can ask your local candidates
The Provincial Election is only weeks away. With your help and hard work, we have achieved our first election campaign goal. The $10aDay Child Care Plan is a top election issue. But our work is far from done. Now, we have to make sure that the next government knows they...
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BC Liberal Government Under-Spending on Child Care
Despite Growing Child Care Crisis, BC Liberal Government Underspends Child Care Budget by $100 million The BC government repeatedly responds to concerns about the growing child care crisis by claiming ‘we can’t afford to do more’. Yet, their own public reports show that they haven’t even spent the minimal funds...
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Time for show and tell?
You know what the latest provincial budget did for my family? For all intents and purposes: nothing. It makes me feel this government is out of touch with the realities and struggles families are facing. You see, my husband and I are a fairly new parents – our little guy just...
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IWD = Child Care Challenge to all BC Political Parties
For Immediate Release March 8th, IWD, is the final day of a Week of Action for $10aDay Child Care. Thousands of women and families across BC have added to the unstoppable momentum for the $10aDay Child Care Plan by signing petitions, writing letters, attending rallies, organizing stroller brigades, participating in...
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10 Reasons Why BC Can Afford $10aDay Child Care
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BC Budget 2017 does nothing to solve the chaos that BC families face every day as they try to find and afford child care. There is a concrete solution – the $10aDay Child Care Plan – which is supported by communities, school boards, businesses and individuals across...
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Missing in Action on Quality, Affordable Child Care
There is a massive affordability crisis for BC families that need child care. Fees can run upwards of $10,000 per year—higher than university tuition—and regulated spaces are available for only 27 per cent of BC children under age five. There’s no question that the status quo—a fragmented patchwork of child...
Lily's Story
I started thinking about child care, on a personal level, when I was pregnant. My son is now 6. I thought that the daycare system was difficult when he was younger, but after school care is really a whole other thing.
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Good News – The Child Care Crisis in BC Can Be Fixed - $10aDay Child Care Plan is Great for Families and BC’s Economy
New Economic Study Highlights Net Benefits of Proposed $10aDay Child Care Plan for Governments and Employers, even in the Short Term. Renowned private-sector economist Robert Fairholm led this in-depth analysis of the economic effects of implementing the $10aDay Plan -- confirming that it will generate sufficient government revenues to pay...
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Jen's Story
I put my son on a waitlist for care when I was seven weeks pregnant.
When the year of mat leave was over and I had to go back to work, my husband and I looked at each other and said “we need something to change.”
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Why Isn't Child Care Affordable?
Why isn’t child care affordable for all Canadians yet? For nearly five decades, no politician outside of Quebec has comprehensively addressed the matter Written by Mab Oloman Published in THIS Magazine, November 3, 2016 Mab Oloman’s interest in child care emerged when she became a parent in 1976. Mab thought it...
Ten bucks a day for child care is enormously appealing
Les Leyne: Universality sticking point for child care LES LEYNE / TIMES COLONIST OCTOBER 25, 2016 Ten bucks a day for child care is an enormously appealing proposition for thousands of B.C. families now paying 10 times that or more for it. But making it available to the wealthy as well...
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Child care costs must be more affordable
MLA Report: B.C. child care costs must be more affordable Lana Popham - Saanich News posted Oct 25, 2016 at 11:00 AM Anyone who has raised children knows it is very challenging. The first five years before kindergarten are especially demanding for parents as they try to give kids the full-time high-quality care...
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Available, accessible and affordable childcare provincewide
NDP vows to raise taxes on the rich to pay for $10-a-day childcare if elected NICK EAGLAND Published on: October 20, 2016 in The Vancouver Sun Speaking to media Wednesday at the Terry Tayler Early Learning & Care Centre in East Vancouver, B.C. NDP leader John Horgan said if his party defeats the...
John Horgan's childcare promise
John Horgan's childcare promise suggests B.C. NDP is more eager to court progressive vote by Charlie Smith on October 20th, 2016 in the Georgia Straight In recent provincial elections, traditional B.C. NDP supporters have sometimes chafed over the party's conservatism. In 2001, then leader Ujjal Dosanjh centred his campaign around a balanced budget and...
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Lack of affordable childcare in the province a crisis
B.C. NDP promises child care for $10 a day NDP leader John Horgan called the lack of affordable childcare in the province a crisis CBC News Posted: Oct 20, 2016 9:38 AM PT B.C.'s NDP is promising a $10-a-day child-care program if they win the upcoming provincial election in May....
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$10-per-day child care to fix 'crisis'
CTV News Vancouver Island Published Wednesday, October 19, 2016 Scott Cunningham, Reporter Jeff Lawrence, Digital Content Producer B.C. New Democrat Leader John Horgan has pledged to address the province's lack of affordable child care if his party is elected next spring. Horgan is promising a $10-per-day universal child care program for B.C. to...
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Committed to $10-A-Day Daycare
By John Horgan in The South Asian Link, October 22, 2016 Leader, B.C. New Democrats VICTORIA—You shouldn’t have to win the lottery to raise a child in British Columbia. But every year, quality, accessible child care gets closer to becoming an option for only the rich and the lucky. Christy...
BC NDP Leader proposes $10aDay
NDP leader John Horgan proposes $10-a-day childcare if elected CKNW News Staff With files from Kyle Benning September 29, 2016 03:56 pm The provincial opposition leader says if elected, his party will implement affordable childcare across the province. NDP leader John Horgan says he wants to make $10-a-day childcare a reality after...
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BC's Child Care Squeeze
B.C.'s child-care squeeze 'so much more stressful than it has ever been' By Tiffany Crawford Published on: September 24, 2016 in the Vancouver Sun Jamie Garrett, an east Vancouver mother of two school-age children, often feels like she works just to pay for child care. Ironically, the 38-year-old single mom is employed...
Lack of daycare space forces mom to stay home
Watch the clip from CTV Vancouver Island news here:
http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=940126
$150,000 child care map just 'hocus pocus'
Jon Woodward, CTV News, Reporter @CTV_Jon Published Tuesday, August 30, 2016 A $150,000 B.C. government online map that is supposed help families find needed child care spots is advertising spots that aren’t there, according to a CTV News investigation. CTV News checked a sample of Vancouver daycares the site said had spaces for...
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Some Vancouver parents pay over $2,000 a month for child care
As Vancouver parents compete for limited spaces, the sky's the limit for every-rising daycare costs By: Jen St. Denis Metro Published on Thu Aug 25 2016 Vancouver families are struggling with a supply and demand child care conundrum — too few spaces are pushing fees into the stratosphere. Currently 75 per cent of...
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Parents pay thousands to hold unused daycare spots
CTV Vancouver Published Thursday, August 25, 2016 In a city where daycare spots can be difficult to find, some Vancouver parents are paying thousands of dollars to hold unused spots for their children. Mother of two Ingrid Irani is on maternity leave from her job as a registered nurse,...
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Looking for Daycare? Good Luck
Year long wait lists continue and cost of full-time childcare has gone up 2 to 4 per cent By Tina Lovgreen, CBC News Posted: Aug 22, 2016 6:24 PM PT Last Updated: Aug 23, 2016 9:06 AM Wendy Xiang and her husband moved to downtown Vancouver for his job two months ago, but...
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Letter to Minister Duclos
Contact us at [email protected] if you'd like a copy of the letter sent to Federal Minister Duclos about the new Framework for Child Care and Early Learning
Affording a Second Child
Having affordable childcare would mean that we could actually afford a second child! We want one, but considering how expensive daycare is in BC, there's just no way. Next month we will be paying $900 a month for full time care for our daughter who will be 1. We pay...
Child care is a human rights issue
Lack of available childcare infringing on human rights of women and children, says legal group Legal association calls on province 'to make childcare significantly more affordable for all' By Anna Dimoff, CBC News Posted: Jul 12, 2016 3:31 PM PT Last Updated: Jul 12, 2016 3:31 PM PT The struggle to find childcare...
Study calls for $10-per-day child care to end daycare 'crisis'
CTV Vancouver Published Tuesday, July 12, 2016 5:19PM PDT A new report says the shortage of affordable, high-quality daycare in B.C. has created a “crisis” for families and is violating the rights of women and children. "High Stakes," written by a women’s rights lawyer at West Coast LEAF, calls on the...
Summer Child Care on Global TV
Breaking down the numbers: Can parents afford summertime care costs? What are the challenges for parents looking for quality affordable child care for their school age children during the summer months - and why the $10aDay Child Care Plan will help... Sharon Gregson is interviewed, please watch the Global TV clip......