Province Helps New Child Care Centre Open in Pictou

The province is helping families in Pictou County have better access to quality child care with the opening of the YMCA Child Care Centre.

Justice Minister Ross Landry, on behalf of Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse, joined staff, children and families today, Feb. 25, to officially celebrate the new Pictou County YMCA Child Care Centre. The centre, which is part of the Pictou Wellness Centre, opened in December.

The province gave the YMCA a $700,000 expansion loan to allow the child care centre to double capacity to 57 places for children age 3 months to school-age.

"This funding directly supports the workforce in this region by providing quality child care for families," said Mr. Landry. "We also know that the best way to make Nova Scotia a better place for all of us is to invest early and wisely in our children."

"Play provides the foundations for language and literacy, for mathematics, for science and technology and for the arts," said child care director Kim Perrin. "With the province's support, child-lead, teacher-guided play experiences at the Pictou County YMCA Child Care Centre will enable our children to discover, communicate, wonder, question, build upon and celebrate what they know."

The centre employs nine full-time teachers, a part-time cook and a director.

"Our family was in need of finding the right fit for our 12-month-old daughter," said Charlotte Potter, whose daughter, Kathryne, is in the YMCA Child Care Centre Infant Program. "I truly believe in the centre's commitment to provide the level of quality care that any parent expects for their child."

Since 2009, the province has made significant investments in early childhood education. It has added 1,000 day-care subsidies for a total of 4,427, created over 1,800 new child care spaces and invested $50 million in early childhood development and early learning and child care annually.