
A 36-space child care facility is set to open at Station Plaza, 510 Lorne Street, in Kamloops.
It ha been a long awaited facility that was initially set to open in the spring of 2024, but those plans had to be put on hold after the planned operator of the daycare was discovered to have been under investigation by Interior Health for allegations one of its employees had injured a child at a daycare operation at Ralph Bell Elementary.
The facility is funded though the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund and will be moving ahead with the YMCA as its service provider. In a release, the city says this will help address the growing need for child care among City employees and the wider community. City employees will have priority access to the service but will not get a subsidized rate.
Once operational, the Lorne Street Child Care Centre will offer up to 12 spaces for infants/toddlers and 24 spaces for children aged 3-5. The official opening date will depend on licencing but should be known and communicated in the coming weeks.
“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.”
Kamloops Councillor Nancy Bepple says the city can afford as many new child care spaces as it can get with wait lists already at centers across the city. “So these 36 spots opening up is going to help everybody who’s looking for child care by making opening up opportunities. We don’t anticipate all 36 spots are going to be taken by the kids of city employees, and it’s really wonderful that there’s an opportunity for other members of the community to bring in their infants called toddlers and kids up to the age five, and have them possibly stay there as well.”
“I would say coming on to council, like two and a half years ago, at that point till now, we’re in catch up mode, because there hadn’t been many infrastructure projects in terms of amenities, ice rinks or other types of sports facilities or cultural facilities In the cities. Hadn’t been built for years, maybe decades, so but at the moment, the plus is that we have a plan going forward.”
The new centre is funded through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, which is jointly supported by provincial investments and federal funding provided through the 2021–2022 to 2025–2026 Canada-British Columbia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
There will be spots available to the public in both age categories—interested families should join the waitlist immediately and can find more registration information at https://www.kamloopsy.org/child-care_centres.htm.