We want to hear about your experiences with childcare options in the East Kootenay

Children and families in Canada have a right to access quality, affordable childcare services. Yet, only 20% of young children today have access to a regulated space and, in many regions, child care fees are the second highest expense for families.

Early childhood educators also have a right to be socially valued and properly paid for their work, yet ECE professionals earn about half as much, on average, as other college-trained workers. From grandparents to economists, working parents to student parents, health care professionals to social workers, early childhood educators to university professors – and so many others – everyone has a childcare story.

The East Kootenay Child Care Needs Assessment Task Force has secured funding enabling us to hire Jane Boyd (45 Conversations, a media and education company) with significant connections and experience in the early learning and childcare field.

Canadians have been debating childcare for years: How much? What kind? Who pays? We’ve heard from politicians and experts. The EK Child Care Needs Assessment Task Force wants to hear from parents/caregivers, grand parents, business owners, Early Childhood Educators, all stakeholders that have an interest or need for child care.

As part of the East Kootenay Child Care Needs Assessment, we are pleased to move forward with the online survey component of this project. This work will be completed in two phases.

The survey is intended to identify the childcare needs in the East Kootenay region and to prioritize those needs through a plan for action. Phase One will run from now through the end of 2014; with a final report being issued shortly thereafter. Planning for the funding and implementation of Phase Two is already underway.

We want you to be part of the East Kootenay Conversations on Childcare. You can access the survey at or by visiting www.EKkids.ca. No Access to the Internet? Please share this link with as many individuals as possible who may have an interest with child care issues in the East Kootenay region of B.C. If someone does not have access to the internet from their home, we encourage them to:

– visit their local library where they should be able to access a computer and internet for no cost (provided they have a library card). Please see this link for information on local library locations http://klf.bclibrary.ca/KLF-libraries

– for those in Cranbrook, contact Street Angels at 250-420-2756 to arrange for internet access in order to complete the survey.

The East Kootenay Child Care Needs Assessment Task Force wishes to thank the Columbia Basin Trust, Success By Six, Children First, East Kootenay Child Care Resource and Referral and 45 Conversations for their funding and in-kind contributions toward this project.

For additional information about the EK Child Care Needs Assessment, please contact Patricia Whalen, Children First Manager at 250-426-2542 or at [email protected], or contact Jane Boyd at [email protected].

Lead image from Fernie Child Care Society

East Kootenay Child Care Needs Assessment Task Force

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