More $10-a-Day child care spaces coming to North Van: MLA Bowinn Ma

New Democrat MLA Bowinn Ma says families in North Vancouver-Lonsdale will save money on child care as a local child care site becomes $10 a Day ChildCareBC sites where fees are capped at a maximum of $200 a month per child.

“Child care can be one of the biggest bills a family faces each month,” said Bowinn Ma, MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale. “Affordable child care can change the lives of a family and I’m thrilled to know that these new $10-a-day spaces will make a big difference for families on the North Shore.”

Sutherland Early Learning Child Care Centre in North Vancouver-Londsale is becoming a $10 a Day ChildCareBC site, which means 22 child care spaces will have fees dramatically reduced for parents.

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. The newly approved $10-a-day spaces are being offered at 18 child care centres throughout British Columbia and include 304 spaces for infants and toddlers, 552 spaces for children two and a half years old to kindergarten age, 385 spaces for school-age children and 132 preschool spaces. These additional spaces bring the total number of $10 a Day spaces in B.C. to 8,190.

In addition to these spaces, the Province, with federal funding support, is helping parents 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 on December 1st, are in addition to the $350 per month per child that families have been saving through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative since 2018, and approximately 69,000 families will benefit.