The Kamloops Child Development Centre will be offering 117 spaces of $200 a month childcare for the next year and a half.
They’re one of 53 centres across the province, as part of the B.C. government’s universal child care prototype project.
Helen Blair, the Director of Education at the Kamloops Child Development Centre says it’s an exciting time.
“Now everyone pays the same for their childcare. You know they can afford it, that’s what it comes down to,” she said. “Before, we used to have to give people time to pay their bills, and we were always running behind.”
“Now it’s going to be no problem for them.”
Those 117 spaces will be broken down into 36 for kids under 3 years of age, 48 for kids between 3 and 5 years of age, and 33 for school-aged children. The bad news? There are no vacancies right now, and there’s a waiting list.
Blair says their application took a lot of time and work.
“You know the government wants you to really be sure that you can do this, and get reports back to them,” she added. “It’s a pretty important thing coming to British Columbia.”
“Hopefully, it’ll go beyond the prototye period. I’m hoping by then the government will realize how important this is to families in British Columbia.”
The government project runs from November 1 this year, until March 31, 2020.
Blair noted when she told some parents about the change, they broke down crying, out of sheer joy.
“I was shaking too,” she added, “I was so excited for the parents.”