Families in Antigonish County will have more access to francophone early learning and child care with a new centre operated by the Centre d'appui à la petite enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse.
"The demand for child-care spaces in Antigonish continues to grow," said Brendan Maguire, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. "This expansion responds to long-standing challenges faced by local families, who have had limited access to francophone child care in their community."
The centre will be co-located on Conseil scolaire acadien provincial property at École acadienne de Pomquet.
The Province is providing $3.5 million to the project, which will provide 40 new child-care spaces for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The centre is expected to open next spring.
Quotes:
"Child care has a profound influence on children's overall development, including their language skills and identity. This investment will provide 40 new child-care spaces and help meet the needs of francophone families in Antigonish. With Nova Scotia, we are adding to the nearly 7,000 child-care spaces already announced, so more families in Nova Scotia can save thousands of dollars every year on child care."
Jaime Battiste, Member of Parliament for Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish, on behalf of Patty Hajdu, federal Minister of Jobs and Families
"Le Centre d'appui à la petite enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse applauds and thanks the provincial and federal governments for their financial support of this project for the community of Pomquet. We also acknowledge our key partner, le Conseil scolaire acadien provincial. Together, we have built a collaborative relationship that allows us to move forward from a dream to reality. A new French-language early learning and child-care centre is long overdue for the families in this community. CAPENÉ looks forward to providing French, high-quality, inclusive, affordable and accessible early learning and child care to the youngest citizens of this beautiful Acadian community in Nova Scotia."
Suzanne Saulnier, Executive Director, Le Centre d'appui à la petite enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse
Quick Facts:
- the Centre d'appui à la petite enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse is a centre of excellence for early childhood education and development in Acadian and francophone communities; the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial is the province's French school board
- this will be the third child-care centre operated by the Centre d'appui à la petite enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse
- this is the 13th project announced under the Department's major infrastructure program
- funding is through the Canada-Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement; Nova Scotia has signed a five-year extension to the Canada-Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement and the Canada-Nova Scotia Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, worth more than $1 billion total
- since 2021, almost 7,000 new child-care spaces have been created across the province
Additional Resources:
More information about child care in Nova Scotia and creating new spaces is at: https://www.childcarenovascotia.ca/
