Lisa Flex, a working mother of two, said she is frustrated with the lack of child care in the Village of Keremeos.
Keremeos’ only child care centre closed in 2021, leaving many parents like Flex struggling to balance work and their children’s care. She said that even before the centre closed, her daughter was on the waitlist for a year and a half.
“It just triggered something inside of me because I am daily struggling with child care,” said Lisa Flex, Keremeos resident in need of child care.
Flex is a senior services coordinator serving nearly half of Keremeos’ residents.
The community struggles with not having enough families and working-aged people to help support the aging population and she believes that it boils down to the lack of local support for families with young children.
“I feel like if we want Keremeos to be open for young families to move to and if you want people to take proper care of the seniors that live here then child care is a major factor in that,” said Flex.
Katrina Chen, B.C.’s minister of state for child care, said the province is actively working to provide more affordable child care spaces for communities including Keremeos.
“Through ChildCareBC, we are building a future where child care is a core service that’s available to any family that wants it, when they need it, at a price they can afford,” said B.C.’s minister of state for child care Katrina Chen in a statement.
“Part of accomplishing this goal is through our ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund and other space-creation programs.”
Chen said the province has already funded more than 30,500 new licensed child care spaces since 2018, including 85 projects in the Okanagan to create nearly 2,500 new licensed child care spaces. Forty of those spaces have been funded for creation in Cawston and 16 spaces have been funded for creation in Hedley.
“We are continuing our space-creation programs, including the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, with another intake starting in spring/summer 2022. I encourage eligible providers in Keremeos to apply,” said Chen.
“In addition to the New Spaces Fund, families will be able to access new licensed spaces through continued investments in start-up grants, which encourage new and unlicensed child care providers to become licensed and care for more children.”
Meanwhile, without a child care program in Keremeos, Flex said she may have to find a new job outside of town.