The City of Nanaimo projects more than 3,000 new child care spaces are needed to hit ambitious goals. (Ian Barrett/The Canadian Press)

By Spencer Sterritt

child care

Ambitious plan endorsed to boost available child care spaces throughout mid-island area

Mar 17, 2021 | 12:34 PM

NANAIMO — A new action plan hopes to add thousands of new child care spaces throughout the area.

The Child Care Action Plan recommends having 50 child care spaces for every 100 children under the age of three and 75 for every 100 children ages three to five who haven’t yet started school.

Roughly 4,900 new spaces are needed throughout the mid island to achieve the target by 2030.

Within Nanaimo, there’s currently only nine spaces for every 100 children under three-years-old.

Throughout the mid-island, 296 child care programs offer nearly 5,000 spaces for more than 17,100 children aged 12 and under.

niche amenities

Trio of community park projects advancing in Nanaimo

15h ago

final farewell

Family, friends and fans to gather at memorial for former B.C. premier John Horgan

16h ago

holiday vibes

Grizzlies spoil Clippers' teddy bear toss night

22h ago

Mayor Leonard Krog, who’s often spoken about avoiding the issue of downloading provincial issues onto the municipality, said it made sense to endorse the action plan and help in ways they could.

“Child care in a modern, functioning economy is absolutely essential for a healthy society. It fits with good old common sense.”

Nanaimo has the second fewest child care spaces for its population at less than 30 per cent. Only the unincorporated areas within the regional district have less.

Lantzville has the most, with nearly 59 per cent of children under 12 in child care spaces.

The Oceanside region is in between at 38 per cent of spaces for children.

Short term recommendations in the plan include a new staff position to guide the action plan, developing an inventory of City-owned land which could become child care spaces and explore providing training and workshops for child care staff to provide better care.

Of the 39 recommendations in the report, 22 can be achieved with existing resources.

The 17 recommendations in the plan requiring additional money include providing more after-school activities through the Parks department, providing child care spaces at a reduced rate and the creation of a staff position.

Coun. Ian Thorpe endorsed the plan but said it’s on “the thin edge” of the province downloading the issue onto the municipality.

“We’d all like to see universal child minding but somebody has to pay for it. I go into this eyes wide open that down the road we might have to make tough decisions about whether we want to spent City money on something that’s not a City jurisdiction.”

Coun. Sheryl Armstrong was the only councillor opposed to the plan, citing the high cost of the 17 recommendations requiring further money.

The action plan will now be included in the City of Nanaimo’s larger reimaging efforts and work will begin to achieve the ambitious targets for available child care spaces.

Any financial requests for the 17 recommendations requiring City money are expected to come before council during its finance and audit committee meetings.

Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt