BREDENBURY - The Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan announced the addition of 1,202 new licensed not-for-profit child care facility spaces in 21 Saskatchewan communities.
These additional spaces are part of a shared goal to create 28,000 new child care spaces in the province by the end of March 2026.
“Every child deserves the best start in life,” said Canada’s Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould in a release on the new spaces. “These additional child care spaces will help grow our Canada-wide early learning and child care system, allowing more children and families from Saskatchewan to access high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care.”
“Our government supports parents who are seeking child care services,” Education Minister Dustin Duncan said in the release. “This increased investment will allow more opportunities for families to find accessible child care near them.”
Bredenbury is one of the communities to receive support.
“It is a new daycare we wish to open earliest September, latest January,” said Kim Varga, town administrator and child care board member in Bredenbury. “It will be ultimately owned by the town but run turnkey by an independent board. It will be located in the old Bredenbury school. Renovations have been preliminary started.”
The funding covers several areas.
“It will be maximum of $8000 a spot for capital and maximum of $861 for equipment and supplies,” said Varga. “Plus 20 spot funding that will be ongoing once we are officially registered.”
As a new facility they will be hiring new staff likely four-eight staff including full time, part time and casual.
The funding came through after an application process.
“We applied to the government about six months ago,” explained Varga.
“Applications are approved based on need. We had no daycare in Bredenbury not even a home day care. Residents currently have to travel to neighbouring towns for daycare if spaces are available.
“This often means travelling with children on bad roads and travelling opposite direction to take children to daycare.”
Varga said the project is being anticipated locally.
“The whole community is very excited to have this service in our town,” she said.
“In the past families moved away to other communities because of daycare. Over the past couple years there has been a significant increase to babies being born.”
The Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, signed in August 2021, provides a federal investment of nearly $1.1 billion over five years for child care in Saskatchewan. With an average of 50 per cent child care fee reductions already announced in the province, the goal is to bring down average fees for regulated child care to $10-a-day by the end of March 2026.
The 1,202 new spaces will be integrated into communities either through new child care facilities or added into existing facilities. Some existing facilities may also choose to add additional sites, noted the release.
The communities that will benefit from the spaces announced in addition to Bredenbury are Asquith, Bethune, Grayson, Gull Lake, Hague, Humboldt, Kindersley, Lloydminster, Martensville, Milestone, Moose Jaw, Montmartre, Pilot Butte, Outlook, Prince Albert, Regina, Saskatoon, Swift Current, Warman and Zenon Park.
Funding for the creation of licensed child care spaces is allocated by the province throughout the year and is approved based on community need and each organization’s readiness to move into the development stage. As part of the overall goal to create 28,000 new regulated child care spaces, the province continues to encourage the licensing of existing child care homes.
