GIBSONS, British Columbia — Two years ago, Marisol Petersen’s family was paying more than $1,200 a month for her son to attend child care in this small, coastal town about 20 miles across the Howe Sound from Vancouver. She felt fortunate to have a place despite the high cost.
In September 2022, a family experiences a dramatic change in fortune. The family was informed that there was an available spot in a child care facility nearby that had signed up to a government initiative that would lower the parent fees to only $10 per day. “It’s like I won the lottery,” Petersen said. “I got into child care anda ‘$10 a Day’ site.”
At the new center, the Huckleberry Coast Child Care Society, Petersen’s fees are capped at $200 a month. Without that reduction in fees, Petersen, who works as a social planner for the city of Vancouver, said her family would “be in massive trouble.”
The “$10 a Day” child care initiative, as it’s known in British Columbia, has been life-changing for…
