Fort St. John council approves letter of support for child care

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The City of Fort St. John Council has voted to write a letter of support to School District 60 in its endeavours to expand child care services in the city. 

During the October 28th regular meeting of council, Mayor Lilia Hansen and councillors reviewed a request for a letter of support from School District 60 in the matter of child care. 

“In an internal survey we found that our staff are struggling to find suitable care for their young children, which in turn affects their ability to return to work. This further exacerbates the shortage of teachers and professional staff,” Jarrod Bell, Director of Infrastructure, wrote in the letter. 

Bell stated that child care was an important topic in the district’s strategic plan, and that it was working to develop or enhance two child care projects for infants and toddlers. 

These consist of a new building to act as a child care hub at Alwin Holland Elementary, and expanded child care seats through a modular addition to Robert Ogilvie Elementary.

In order to strengthen funding applications for the projects, the district wrote to request a letter of support from city council, which was unanimously approved by the mayor and council.