Image: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

CHILD CARE COSTS

$10-a-day childcare spots stagnant in Kamloops after latest disbursement of provincial funding

Jun 4, 2025 | 5:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — After the latest round of $10-a-day provincial funding subsidies were announced, no new childcare centres in the City of Kamloops secured $10-a-day status.

Meanwhile regionally, three childcare centres in Vernon, Sorrento and Williams Lake were able to secure the subsidized rate.

As of this spring, the Ministry of Education and Child Care says the Kamloops-Thompson School District region has five facilities with $10-a-day spaces, for a combined total of 371 spots. Kamloops is included in that calculation and the municipality itself still has only two facilities listed as having $10-a-day spaces, with a combined total of 295 spots covered by the subsidy.

Children’s Circle, one of the city’s largest childcare centres, is not one of those facilities, after its most recent application to the province for $10-a-day funding was not successful.

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Karyn Sutherland, the executive director of the Early Learning Society of Kamloops, the non-profit who operates Children’s Circle, says it was disappointing but the society is looking at future funding opportunities.

“Of course, if there’s another call we would love to be a part of that because what that does is it improves affordability for our families,” explains Early Learning Society Executive Director Karyn Sutherland. “It’s $200 a month for child care which, during these times, families are under a lot of pressure, financial pressure, and so I think it’s really important and we’ll continue to advocate for that for our families and for the community because we are, we believe, underrepresented in $10-a-day.”

Space is also a hot commodity in Kamloops. This particular childcare centre along Ninth Avenue has a waitlist of nearly 1,000 children, according to Sutherland. Plans to expand the space with a second building nearby were recently halted after the organization wasn’t able to secure the province’s New Spaces grant. The vacant property eyed for that project is for sale and Sutherland says the society cannot afford to buy it outright.

The organization plans to reapply for the next round of funding but Sutherland says the society is concerned the land won’t still be available.

“I think we need to recognize as a community the value of that piece of land,” says Sutherland. “This is an ideal setting for child care and we know that the conditions are right, and that we could be successful in the next call. And so I think for the community and for the legacy that it would provide, that would be something that if, as a community, we can work together and secure that land for child care, that would be really great.”

Lisa Beare, the Minister of Education and Child Care, was asked for comment about $10-a-day spaces in Kamloops, but did not provide an interview. The Ministry says in a statement, “For 2024-25, more New Spaces Fund applications were received than available funding. While we recognize there is a high demand for new childcare spaces, not all projects could be selected.”