Francophone child care centres in British Columbia are in full expansion!

Do you find that there is a severe lack of Francophone child care spaces for preschoolers (0 to 5 years old) and for school-aged students (5 to 12 years old)? You're not alone! The Fédération des parents has been working tirelessly for several years to meet the growing needs of families. It set up Le Phare C.-B., a team dedicated to child care centres that now manages 13 Francophone child care centres across 11 regions of the province, and is currently working on nearly a dozen new projects with the help of its partners, such as the CSF.

The Fédération des parents is also currently working on an ambitious plan to develop Francophone child care centres. To do this, the Fédération des parents is consulting and working closely with its Francophone partners, who are contributing to early planning prior to the implementation of the development plan.

This consultation will also take into account current child care centre administrators, as well as early childhood professionals, with the aim of meeting their needs.

A Current Statistical Portrait of the Child Care Network

The Fédération des parents gathered data in the fall of 2024 that shows a current picture of the network of child care centres offering French-language programming in the province. Here are the highlights:

• The network includes 32 Francophone child care centres: of these, 10 serve early childhood clientele, 12 serve school-aged clientele, and 10 offer services to both.
• Only 4 Francophone centres are licensed to accommodate infants and children under 2-1/2 years old (52 spaces in total, in Metro Vancouver, Greater Victoria and Kelowna). That's one more centre with 8 places and one more region served than last year (Kelowna)
• The province's Francophone child care centres have 491 spaces for children aged 2-1/2 to 5 years old (preschool child care centres), and 1,110 spaces for CSF schools (before- and after-school child care centres).
• The network has a waiting list of nearly 557 children, including 550 early childhood clientele (157 infants and children under 2-1/2 years old) and 52 school-aged clientele.
• There are 28 centres that are managed by a non-profit organization run by parents (parents’ associations managing the child care centre, school parents’ associations, or the Fédération des parents) and 4 centres that are managed by a regional Francophone association.
• Francophone child care centres employ a total of just over 210 people.
• A labour shortage continues to be a major challenge for Francophone child care centres. This year, more than 50 jobs across all qualifications (early childhood educator, educator assistant, responsible adult, or infant and toddler educator) are yet to be filled.

The Fédération des parents would like to thank the administrators of the Francophone child care centres who participated in this information-gathering effort.

 

What to Look for in the Coming Months

• Services and Educators’ database

A census of educators working in childcare centres or studying early childhood education will be launched shortly. This will enable us to communicate more effectively with them, in order to develop services that meet their specific needs.

• List of Francophone Child Care Centres in the Province

A list of all Francophone child care centres in British Columbia (including all types: family child care, group child care centres, etc.) is also being created. It will include a complete list of child care centres (both preschool and before- and after-school centres), with up-to-date information that is easily accessible to parents.

Other services and resources to provide easier access to the various child care services and meet the needs of the sector’s stakeholders will be created and announced in the future. If you have any questions, please contact the Fédération des parents team at CCRR.franco@fpfcb.bc.ca.