CHILDCARE – New centre will provide three dozen spaces

Development of a 36-space child care facility at Station Plaza, 510 Lorne Street, funded though the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, is “moving ahead” with the YMCA as its service provider, says the City.

City employees will have priority access to the service but will not get a subsidized rate.

The project was initially scheduled to open in 2024. Once operational, the Lorne Street Child Care Centre will offer up to 12 spaces for infants/toddlers and 24 spaces for children aged 3-5. The official opening date will depend on licencing but should be known and communicated in the coming weeks, The City said in  news release today ) March 12, 2025).

There will be spots available to the public in both age categories — interested families should join the waitlist immediately and can find more registration information at https://www.kamloopsy.org/child-care_centres.htm.

“The YMCA is thrilled to be engaging with the City of Kamloops to open a new and much-needed child care facility for families in Kamloops,” said Lynette Mikalishen, director of  child care service for YMCA BC.

“We are prepared to bring our wealth of experience, highly trained staff, unique curriculum, and community passion to providing a safe and comfortable environment where children can learn and grow.”

The new centre is funded through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, which is jointly supported by provincial investments and federal funding provided through the 2021–2022 to 2025–2026 Canada-British Columbia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

“Creating new child care spaces takes dedication, collaboration and perseverance,” said Rohini Arora, Parliamentary Secretary for Child Care.

“The people behind this project put in tremendous effort to bring it to life. Their hard work helps ensure more families in Kamloops have access to affordable and high-quality child care.”