The challenges of obtaining and retaining childcare are the focus of an upcoming townhall forum in New Westminster.
New West Progressive councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas are co-hosting a panel discussion that will focus on challenges parents face in securing and retaining childcare in New Westminster.
The free forum is on Thursday, April 11 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Unity of New Westminster, 1630 Edinburgh St. Child-minding is available on site.
According to a notice about the event, the panellists will discuss the challenges parents face in securing daycare spaces and will begin to explore what solutions currently exist.
After hosting a panel discussion on crime and public safety in November 2023, the New Westminster Progressives discussed potential topics for future forums.
“The daycare one floated right to the top,” Fontaine said.
Given the densification that’s occurring in New Westminster and the need for daycare spaces in the city, he said childcare is a timely topic.
The forum features two panellists who have years of experience related to childcare issues in British Columbia: Sharon Gregson, who works for the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and is the provincial spokesperson for $10aDay Child Care campaign; and Adrienne Montani, executive director of First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Centre.
Providing a parents’ perspective to the issue will be panellists: Laura Kwong, chair of the New Westminster District Parent Advisory Council; and James Plett and Sara Siegel, local parents who have advocated on behalf education issues and voiced concerns about the school board’s decision to relocate child care spaces from Fraser River Middle School and Qayqayt Elementary School to other schools in the district.
Attendees can register online.
With a growing population and with many younger families moving into the downtown, Fontaine said more daycare spaces are needed.
“We need to be working more collaboratively, I think, between the school board and council, when it comes to ensuring that we secure what we've got, that we don't lose and go backwards on any of the daycare spaces we've got, and that we try to find solutions to increase and build more daycares so that we can actually increase the capacity there as well,” he said.
Fontaine said the City of New Westminster has various roles to play when it comes to the daycare services in the city, including working with developers to create spaces in new developments and advocating to the province on daycare issues. He said the school board also has a role to play, particularly when it comes to programs like after-school care.
“I'd love to hear from the public as to what they think,” he said. “Those are what I think are our roles, but maybe there's something else that they know that I don't.”
With a provincial election scheduled for 2024, Fontaine said he hopes the forum will raise awareness and encourage all of the provincial parties to prioritize childcare in their upcoming campaign platforms and to provide some additional funding to construct daycares.
Following November’s crime and public safety forum, Fontaine provided council with a summary report of the meeting. He said a similar report will be forward to city council and school board after the upcoming forum on childcare.
