The addition of 400 new AHS spaces will help meet a growing need and address a gap in Indigenous-led childcare in BC. The Indigenous population is the fastest growing population in Canada, growing by 42.5% — more than four times faster than the rest of the population — between 2006 and 2018 (StatCan 150 Census). 

There are over 232,000 Indigenous people in BC, approximately 67% of whom live off-reserve in urban areas. Over the next seven years, the number of Indigenous children aged 0-5 years is expected to grow from approximately 28,900 to 31,600 in BC. This means an additional 2,700 Indigenous-led spaces will be needed to support this population growth across our province.  

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Further support is also needed for existing Indigenous childcare providers. BC’s first AHS expansion project, started in 2018, is funded through the Canada-BC Bilateral ELCC Agreement. This agreement stipulated that these federal funds could only be used to create new spaces. Existing Indigenous childcare spaces were ineligible. 

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Existing Indigenous childcare programs experience similar challenges to non-Indigenous sites and must charge high parent fees to remain operational. This has resulted in closures of Indigenous childcare centres serving the most vulnerable families, highlighting the need for an opportunity to convert existing Indigenous childcare programs to AHS sites. These childcare sites would benefit from the single funding stream model that AHS uses in place of parent fees to cover operating costs.