By Pete McIntyre

Council gets behind child care action plan

Mar 12, 2020 | 5:37 AM

Vernon council has agreed to investigate forming a child care action team, to look at ways to deal with a lack of of child care spaces and early childhood educators.

Council took the action after hearing a report from GDH Solutions on Monday which cited a “desperate need for additional child care spaces in Greater Vernon.”

The report stated the lack of availability of child care was the greatest issue for working parents with children, followed by cost of care.

“The greatest need is for children under the age of three. Parents who work shifts or hours outside of the “8 to 5” norm have almost no access to child care,” said the report. “They must resort to non-licensed child care, or pay a nanny. Part-time care is also a big issue, and in some cases, parents will pay for full-time care only to use it on a part-time basis.”

Mayor Victor Cumming said the city has two applications for funding into the province that would see the municipality provide land and allow someone else to operate daycare facilities.

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“They’ve committed to a site near the old Lakers building (Cummings Road), across the road there. That’s one site we’ve committed to. The second is to upgrade the Boys and Girls Club site where they are, and add significant space there,” Cumming told Vernon Matters

Coun. Scott Anderson wondered if the study surveyed people who don’t have kids, or don’t require child care.

“One concern I have is when we focus on the stakeholders, the interested parties, in something like this, what we’re really doing is sort of asking three-year-olds what the barriers to cookies are because everyone is going to say there is a deficit and they need to increase funds,” Anderson stated.

Gabi Haas, president of GDH Solutions, said that was not specifically part of what she was looking at.

“But at the open house — and some responses in the study — were that ‘I don’t have children,’ but some were quite engaged because they have grandchildren and their children are struggling to get child care,” said Haas. “Other people made comments like ‘They’re the future [children], we should be supporting these,’ although they didn’t say they wanted to pay a whole bunch of extra taxes.”

Providing more child care spaces is not the only struggle — it’s also difficult to find staff to work at those facilities.

Councillor Dalvir Nahal says the city can partner on building new facilities — which is the plan — but you also have to have the staff to run them.

The report to council found early childhood educators in the Vernon area make between minimum wage and $21 an hour, which makes it hard for daycare centres to retain staff.

“One of the complexities is that the wages are low, so it’s a double-barrelled problem,” Mayor Victor Cumming told Vernon Matters. “Those who do enter the field, who have good skills, often move on to something else just because of wage levels, so we end up with shortages. And those that run the facilities, they’re doing it out of passion and love, and care for the kids. It’s not necessarily a significant money maker for them.”

As part of council’s action, the Child Care Space Action Plan, will be shared with School District 22 and with the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce who could get large employers to consider providing child care spaces in the workplace.

The District of Coldstream also has a funding application into the province for a child care proposal.

by Pete McIntyre

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