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City setting precedent that may have unintended impacts
Letter to the Editor
This letter was originally forwarded to the City of Cranbrook Mayor and council.
Having been involved with a previous Child Care Assessment for our region, the state of child care in our area is worrisome.
Municipalities are usually the first to experience downloading from other levels of government or ministries. It was concerning to read that the City of Cranbrook is now assuming responsibility for providing child care facilities through city lands, plus redirecting staff time from municipal to school district tasks.
This news comes around the same time that the city sent a request to the Ministry of Housing to pay for the costs to clean up homeless camps, added security, etc., which was refused by the province. Yet here, the city is assuming responsibility for something not in its mandate.
School District No. 5 is probably the largest land holder in Cranbrook. In April 2023, I received an email from SD5 that stated, in part, “As of last April, the Ministry of Education is now the Ministry of Education and Child Care and we need to consider where we may place child care facilities in the future as a provincial and District priority.”
Child care is apparently, also SD5’s “priority.” While SD5 is currently looking to offer 100 pre-school and after-school spaces, child care is also their responsibility. The Minister of Education & Child Care’s mandate letter states, in part: “Support the Minister of State for Child Care by working toward universal access to before and after school care, continuing to build spaces on school grounds, and finalizing development of a capital plan for child care.”
SD6 is well underway with a new child care facility in Marysville, as are other school districts around the province. They understand their role.
Why is the city assuming this responsibility? The school districts, not the City of Cranbrook, are responsible to the Ministry of Education and Child Care, for child care.
The land at Gyro Park could better be used to support low income housing, through zoning and sale of the city’s land (to a land trust perhaps.) Housing is also not the mandate of the municipality – planning and zoning are.
The city is setting a precedent that may have unintended consequences.
I look forward to a response at your earliest convenience.
Sharon Cross,
Cranbrook
