More BGC Okanagan Clubs selected for $10 a Day ChildCareBC program
More families in the Okanagan will save thousands of dollars per year as more child care spaces in BGC Okanagan Clubs convert to the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program.
“Quality child care is a necessity for families. Ten-dollar-a-day child care spaces will help ease financial burdens that families are experiencing,” said Kirstie Blanleil, Operations Manager at BGC Okanagan.
The BGC Okanagan Martin Avenue Club (Kelowna) and Cameron Park will now offer this $10 a Day ChildCareBC program. BGC Okanagan Clubs already offering this are Rutland Centre and the West Kelowna Club.
These spaces will help make life more affordable and help build high-quality, affordable, accessible child care as a core service in B.C.
“Receiving the email with the news that our day care was selected for the $10-a-day initiative was like winning the lottery. We are two working parents who both work in the public sector and inflation has impacted us greatly. This relief allows us to breathe a little,” said a parent with children that participate in BGC Okanagan programs.
This is in addition to thousands of other families who are benefiting from existing $10-a-day spaces or paying $10 a day or less for child care through fee reductions.
“We doubled the number of $10-a-day spaces earlier this year and will be nearly doubling yet again by the end of 2022, with 1,373 spaces added this month alone,” said Katrina Chen, B.C.’s Minister of State for Child Care. “Affordable child care can be life changing, and we’re one step closer to making that a reality for all families in B.C.”
Spaces in the $10 a Day ChildCareBC program reduce the average cost of child care from $1,000 a month at participating facilities (for full-time, centre-based infant care) to $200 a month, saving families approximately $800 a month per child on average.
“Our governments are making affordable, high-quality, flexible and inclusive child care a reality,” said Karina Gould, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. “Through our transformative investments, we remain focused on making life more affordable for families and giving every child the best possible start in life.”
More $10-a-day spaces will be created over the next few months. By the end of the year, the program will expand the number of $10 a Day ChildCareBC spaces available for families in B.C. from 6,500 in April to approximately 12,500.
The $10-a-day program expansion represents further progress in partnership with the federal government under the Canada-B.C. Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. To support the goal of ensuring access to high-quality, affordable and inclusive early learning and child care, the Government of Canada is contributing $3.2 billion for child care in B.C. over five years.
The newly approved $10-a-day spaces are being offered at 18 child care centres throughout B.C., bringing the total number of $10 a Day spaces in B.C. to nearly 8,200.
In addition to these spaces, the Province, with federal funding support, is helping approximately 69,000 families with the cost of child care at centres that are not part of the $10-a-day program through child care fee reductions of up to $550 more per month, per child. These savings, which kick in Dec. 1, 2022, are in addition to the $350 per month, per child that families have been saving through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative since 2018.
Since 2018, the Province has invested $2.7 billion in the 10-year ChildCareBC plan to build a future where affordable, inclusive and quality child care is a core service that families can rely on.