BURNABY – NDP child care critic Claire Trevena heard from young mothers at Burnaby South Secondary who are worried there won’t be any child care spaces available once they graduate. 

“Yesterday a 15 year old mother told me that she may have to drop out of school to take care of her daughter,” said Trevena. “She is working hard to finish her education and yet she is faced with joining thousands of other Lower Mainland parents to find an available child care spot once her daughter turns three.”Claire Trevena 

Burnaby South offers young mothers child care spaces while they attend classes, however they centre is only equipped to care for children up to three years of age.   

The child care centre supervisor, Carla Plekan, says the child care situation in Burnaby is out of control. “I had to cut my waitlist off at 117 families,” said Plekan.

The Burnaby Children’s Centre not far from Burnaby South has a waitlist with 400 families. 

"These young mothers have great aspirations,” said Trevena. “They want to be able to move onto post-secondary but they’re looking at three-year waiting lists." 

Nearly 80 per cent of children in need of licensed child care in B.C. are unable to get a spot. The NDP child care initiative Raising B.C. is currently touring province calling for universal child care for kids five and under.  

“We want to talk with people about solutions and figure out how working families can have affordable, accessible high quality care for their children,” said Trevena. “Other provinces and other countries have a commitment to child care; we need to have that too. 

Go to www.raisingbc.ca for more information.

Claire Trevena

North Island

Claire was first elected in May 2005 and was re-elected on May 12, 2009.