Childcare
Pemberton is one of the youngest communities in the Province and it seems like there are more babies than dogs here, which says a lot. For years we have been well below the Provincial average in available childcare spaces which has caused challenges for our business community, affordability for families and most significantly for women in Pemberton who want/need to re-enter the work-force.
The challenges: The VoP has applied several times over the past four years for provincial grant money to build new childcare spaces but failed each time as the cost per space did not meet the grant criteria.
Wages for childcare workers are ridiculously low and this needs to change. These people care for our children, a job that requires immense patience, skill and training and they need to be paid accordingly. Until that happens there will continue to be a shortage in childcare workers.
What has been done:
While staff continued to work on grant applications, I met on several occasions with the Minister of Childcare to ‘strongly reinforce’ the need for more spaces, explain the reasons Pemberton would never be able to meet their funding criteria, and that we would not go away until we received financial support to create them. The last application was successful and in the Spring, construction on 50 new spaces will begin—doubling the child care centre’s current capacity!
Next steps: Work with the childcare society, Employment BC and other partners to ensure training for early childcare workers is happening in lock step with construction of the new spaces so that we have skilled people who live and work here. I have personally and strongly advocated to senior government to find ways to make sure ECC workers get the wages they deserve and I will continue to do so as long as I have the opportunity!
We are far from done … we know this town is growing and the babies will keep on coming; making sure there is adequate childcare in this community is vital and in my mind needs to continue to be a top priority for Council in the years to come.
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