More families in the Cowichan Valley will benefit from child care due to the province’s announcement that it will fund 36 new child care spaces in Duncan.
The new affordable spaces will be provided at a facility operated by the Parkside Academy Child Care Society, in conjunction with the City of Duncan, which owns the building near McAdam Park, thanks to the funding from the province’s New Spaces Fund.
Once operational, the 36 new child-care spaces will be eligible for the government’s fee-reduction program, ensuring that they will be affordable for families.
This builds on work to provide more affordable child care spaces already underway in the region, including 158 spaces that have been provided at another Parkside Academy child care centre in Cowichan, which was also made possible with funding from senior levels of government.
“Increased access to child care means more parents will have the flexibility they need to work or study,” said Debra Toporowski, MLA for Cowichan Valley, who was at the funding announcement on March 25 in Duncan along with B.C.’s Minister of Education and Child Care Lisa Beare, Duncan Mayor Michelle Staples and members of Parkside Academy’s board.
“This is great news for Duncan families and another example of how our government is working for families across B.C.”
Beare added that funding for more child-care spaces in Cowichan is “fantastic news”.
“I know how important this is to families in Cowichan, as well as the more than 700 other new child-care spaces throughout B.C. that the province is funding,” she said. “As we face economic threats and British Columbians struggle with rising costs, we are continuing to make critical investments in child care. We’re on target to meet the 20,000 new $10-a-day childcare spaces by the spring of 2026 that we committed to.”
More than $62 million is being invested by the province to create more than 750 new licensed child care spaces throughout B.C. through the accelerated space-creation programs.
These investments represent further progress in the province’s partnership with the federal government to provide more child-care spaces.
The Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement supports the $10-a-Day ChildCareBC program, the New Spaces Fund and additional funding through the federal Child Care Infrastructure Fund support the creation of new child-care spaces.
Candace Spilsbury, a director on the board at the Parkside Academy Childcare Society and former chair of the Cowichan Valley School District, said the funding for the new child care spaces will make a dramatic difference for a lot of families in the Cowichan area.
“When some Parkside parents were told of the news, they dissolved into tears,” she said. “Many families are struggling with paying for their homes and food and this will help them pay for their child care. I’m delighted to partner with the City of Duncan, Cowichan Tribes, the province and others to bring this funding here.”
Staples said her son went to Parkside for child care, and she’s excited about the funding announcement.
“It’s important to have affordable and reliable child care spaces here and I’m looking forward to seeing more spaces rolled out in the future,” she said.
