Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Dylana Milobar

$10-a-Day Child Care

$10-a-day child care advocates building endorsement list

May 8, 2019 | 2:20 PM

KAMLOOPS — After gathering support from the City of Kamloops for $10-a-day child care, an advocate for the affordable option presented at Thompson Rivers University today as part of the group’s campaign.

The city has now joined a list of 56 municipalities endorsing $10-a-day child care, after Sharon Gregson appeared before mayor and council yesterday.

Gregson says the $10aDay Child Care Campaign has seen more and more communities joining their cause as they travel throughout B.C.

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“There are about 200 local governments in B.C, so we’re now more than a quarter. We’re also talking to school districts. So we’ve got 31 out of 60 school districts that have endorsed the plan.” She says, “I had a conversation with the Chair of the School Board (Kathleen Karpuk) yesterday afternoon, and I’m going to come back in the fall and talk to her and the trustees about their support.”

For families in Kamloops, Gregson says it’s common to pay around $1,000 a month in childcare fees for one child.

“And unfortunately, the mostly women who work in child care are in poverty wages, so we’ve got a lot to do to fix the system.”

According to Gregson, it would be nearly 10 years before the current childcare system is fully reformed, but changes have been made since the last provincial election.

With the B.C government’s commitment to eventually implement the reduced cost, Gregson says their campaign is largely focused on keeping child care top of mind for lawmakers.

“We have the prototype sites, we’ve also got more fee reductions that are happening for families now. There are wage enhancements for early childhood educators. $2 an hour is the first wage enhancement in a generation,” She explains, “So the province is investing in building a child care system. We have to make sure they continue to do it.”