BURNABY – Local families in North Burnaby will soon be able to access 171 new licensed child-care spaces thanks to a $999,495 investment through the province’s Child Care Major Capital Funding Program, announced Janet Routledge, New Democrat MLA for Burnaby North.

“I’m so pleased that 171 new child-care spaces are coming to our community. These new spaces will make a difference to the many families I’ve spoken to who have been struggling to access affordable, quality child-care,” said Routledge. “There’s always more work to do, and our government is committed to making life more affordable for families. These new child-care spaces are an excellent step.”

The nearly one-million-dollar investment in child-care in North Burnaby will create 94 new spaces at Brightstart Children’s Academy – Dominion ($250,000), 40 spaces at Smilestones Junior Kindergarten ($249,495), and 37 spaces at the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion’s (BACI) Variety Children’s Centre ($500,000). These new spaces include 60 infant and toddler spaces and 66 spaces for ages 3-5.

This investment will allow child-care providers to:

• Build a new child-care facility, including the cost of buying land or a building.
• Purchase and assemble a modular building and develop a site.
• Renovate an existing building.
• Buy eligible equipment (including playground equipment) and furnishings as part of the above activities to support new child-care spaces in an existing facility.

The Province is now in the process of working with child-care providers to sign project agreements that include the specific requirements that providers have identified for each site, such as the need to lease or buy property, obtain local zoning permits and hire contractors to renovate the sites.

Accelerating the creation of new child-care spaces is part of the B.C. government’s commitment to improve accessibility for families and supports its long-term goal of implementing universal child care in B.C. For more information, please visit: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare