Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today
YMCA Station Plaza Care and Learning Centre

Ribbon cut for city’s newest child care centre; spots still available

Jun 3, 2025 | 4:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops and YMCA BC officially cut the ribbon on what provincial grant money bought them — a new childcare facility with 32 spaces.

“One of the biggest issue we had with hiring the talent that we needed was daycare spaces. And so we started down a path about 3 or 4 years ago, saying, ‘How could we look at operating a day care?’ That’s what led us to today,” explains Kamloops councillor and deputy mayor Mike O’Reilly.

It took four years to get the YMCA Station Plaza Care and Learning Centre opened and it comes shortly after other applications for the ChildCare BC News Spaces Fund weren’t chosen. The city had recently applied to turn the Parkview Activity Centre into a childcare facility and the Early Learning Society of Kamloops also sought the grant to build an expansion to the Children’s Circle Centre on Ninth Avenue.

“That’s certainly challenging when you’re working with another level of government and hopefully getting grants or accepted to applications programs,” notes O’Reilly. “Nonetheless, this isn’t something that happens overnight. The seed has to be planted and you need to just keep working. The perseverance is really what got this across the line.”

Child care is in significant demand around the province, which is part of what prompted the Y’s recent efforts to expand into that sector.

YMCA BC President and CEO Heidi Worthington spoke with CFJC at the opening of the new Kamloops centre and says the non-profit has been working to increase its programs across a variety of health- and wellness-related fields.

“YMCA BC operates 143 childcare centres now. That is more than 4,300 children in our care and growing. We’re still growing,” she adds.

To respond to the needs of municipal staff, O’Reilly says 40 per cent of the spaces at the new Station Plaza site are designated for children of City of Kamloops employees.

“Our numbers show that about 70 per cent of the children in Kamloops do not have a licensed daycare space and we know that’s a challenge for any parent looking to get back to work, and how they can function and contribute back to the economy,” he says.

However, the rest of the spots are open to the public.

“We actually have vacancies, so we’re accepting applications for children looking for quality, registered daycare space,” adds O’Reilly.