Child-care programs reopen on the Sunshine Coast after staffing shortage

YMCA childcare programs in West Sechelt and Gibsons on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast are set to reopen after closing last year because of staffing shortages. The West Sechelt infant and toddler program will resume on Oct. 5 with eight spaces, and capacity is expected to rise gradually to 12 by 2027. Parents had struggled to find care after the closures, and some families were left scrambling to keep working after parental leave ended. Community members, the YMCA, and provincial immigration pathways helped make the reopening possible, alongside recruitment incentives such as relocation support, bonuses and wage increases for early childhood educators. Local leaders say the region still needs more childcare spaces, especially as other centres have also closed in recent months. The Gibsons program reopened in August, and enrolment priority is being given first to children displaced by the earlier closure, then to siblings and children already in care, before waitlisted families.