An Expanding Network: Francophone Child Care Centres in B.C.

For years, many Francophone parents have been unable to find French-language child care spaces for their children, and the demand for these spaces continues to grow across B.C. In order to remedy this shortage, the Fédération des parents francophones de C.-B. created, in the fall of 2020, Le Phare C.-B. – an entity within the organization that is entirely dedicated to the development of child care centres offering French-language programming in British Columbia.

Since its inception, the Phare C.-B. team continues to work in synergy with various partners to encourage the development of Francophone child care centres across the province. It should be emphasized that this team supports both the start-up of new child care centres and the expansion of those already in operation. Over the past 18 months, the Fédération des parents francophones has secured nearly half a million dollars in investments from the provincial and federal governments to implement its plan to create child care spaces managed by and for Francophones.

Statistical Profile

Information collected by the Fédération des parents at the end of 2021 compiled data that shows a snapshot of the current network of child care centres offering French-language programming in the province. Here are the highlights:

• The network has 30 Francophone child care centres: of these, 9 serve early childhood clientele, 12 serve school-age clientele, while 9 offer services to both of these clienteles.
• Only 3 Francophone centres have a permit to accommodate infants and children under 2 1/2 years of age (44 places in total, in Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria).
• Francophone child care centres in the province have 509 spaces for children aged 2 1/2 to 5 (preschool child care), and 1,045 spaces for CSF (Conseil scolaire francophone) school children (before and after school child care).
• 6 new child care centres have opened in the last 12 months alone – 5 managed by Le Phare C.-B. and one managed by a parents’ association – leading to the creation of 165 child care spaces and about 15 jobs.
• 26 centres are managed by a non-profit organization administered by parents (association of preschool parents, association of school parents, or la Fédération des parents) and 4 centres are managed by a regional Francophone association.
• Francophone child care centres employ 207 people.
• The network has a waiting list of 810 children, including 524 for early childhood clients (including 224 for infants and children under 2 1/2 years old) and 286 for school-age clients.

The Fédération des parents would like to thank the managers of the Francophone child care centres who participated in this collection of information. Anyone with questions about the network is encouraged to contact the Fédération des parents at info@fpfcb.bc.ca.

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The creation of Le Phare C.-B. was made possible by provincial funding for French-language services from the Government of British Columbia; financial support from the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité (RDÉE) Canada, mandated by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to lead the Stratégie nationale en entrepreneuriat pour la Petite enfance, with the collaboration of the Société de développement économique de la C.-B. and the Fédération des parents francophones; as well as the Formation et renforcement des capacités des éducatrices et des éducateurs de la petite enfance project, financed by the Government of Canada and administered by l’Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC), with the support of the Comité de gestion national en petite enfance.