New Recommendations for 2024: #$10aDayforAll

The following evidence-based recommendations result from our research and A Whole Life report on the impact of $10-a-day child care on low-income lone mothers.

We recommend the Province of BC:

Transition all interested existing programs to $10-a-day sites to create up to 50,000 fully publicly funded spaces and create a cohesive child care system in BC.

Prioritize the establishment of new $10 a Day ChildCareBC centres in BC’s child care ‘deserts’.

Implement an Early Childhood Educator wage grid in BC of at least $30–$40 per hour, depending on qualifications, experience, and years of employment.

Implement an equity-based approach to ensure marginalized, low-income families have access to $10-a-day spaces.

Expand the capacity of $10 a Day ChildCareBC centres to provide quality, accessible care for special needs children.

Ban the collection of waitlist and registration fees at all child care centres in BC.

Ensure $10-a-day child care better accommodates shift work and the diverse labour market needs of parents and caregivers.

Establish a ChildCareBC Parent Advisory Council comprised of a diversity of parents and caregivers, including those with lived/ living experience of low income, to provide ongoing input into the development of the $10-a-day child care system.

Establish public delivery of before- and after-school care using the public school system to address the province-wide shortage of school-age child care spaces.

We recommend the Government of Canada:

Implement the key recommendations of Child Care Now by investing the following over three years starting in 2024:

a) $10 billion in capital costs to cover costs associated with increasing demand and increasing need for child care across the country;

b) Adding $7 billion in federal transfer to the provinces and territories to support the full implementation of competitive and equitable wage grids, improved benefits and working conditions for early childhood educators and other staff. 

2023 Recommendations

Our community-engaged research informs our recommendations on the impact of social services and public policy on families experiencing poverty. 

On this page, you will find a comprehensive list of twenty-two recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction’s consultation process in spring 2023 regarding the development of TogetherBC: British Columbia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.  

Our 22 recommendations are grouped in our four focus areas for 2023. 

Priced Out

Priced Out responds to our community engagement results by addressing the rising cost of living and its impact on BC's families. Priced Out addresses solutions to rising costs and food access, lack of affordable and accessible child care and before-and-after-school care, and access to dental care, transit, medication, vision care, and counselling for families living below the poverty line in BC. 

Focus on the high poverty rates of lone-parent-led families in all aspects of policymaking and expand the supplement for lone parents in the BC Family Benefit.

Raise the net income cut-off for the BC Family Benefit rate reduction to ensure better distribution of this impactful benefit to families living in the greatest depths of poverty.

Income Justice

Our Income Justice focus area responds to member input on work, wages, quality jobs, and job opportunities. This focus area will address solutions to low and unlivable wages, inadequate income and disability assistance rates, lack of access to higher paying work, and sustainable part-time and full-time jobs with benefits for families impacted by socio-economic inequality.  

We also address the need for pay equity legislation and tackle the entrenchment of marginalized parent and caregiver workers, including trans and gender-diverse parents, 2SLGBTQIA+ parents, mothers, racialized parents, those with disabilities, and other equity-seeking parent-workers in sectors defined by low-waged and precarious labour. 

Increase the income and disability assistance rates to the Market Basket Measure and ensure annual increases linked to inflation. 

Significantly raise the earnings exemption for those accessing income and disability assistance and ensure no income is clawed back below the poverty line. 

Scrap the unlivable minimum wage and replace it with a Minimum Living Wage. We echo the BC Poverty Reduction’s recommendation to close the gap between BC’s current minimum wage rate of $16.75, the Metro Vancouver living wage rate of $24.08, and Victoria’s Living Wage rate of $24.29 an hour by 2026 with regular annual increases to reflect changes in the cost of living. 

Provide five family and caregiver wellness/sick days for all British Columbians to ensure no parent’s livelihood is threatened by their children’s sickness. 

Implement a fair wage grid for early childhood education workers in our child care system and ensure all jobs are family-supporting with livable wages, benefits, and job security. 

Ensure all jobs within a publicly provided before and after-school care system are unionized with a wage grid, benefits, and job security. 

Implement pay equity legislation for BC. 

Advocate to the federal government for CERB amnesty for impacted BC residents. 

A Roof Over Our Heads

A Roof Over Our Heads addresses the housing crisis in BC for low-income families with a focus on justice for renters, the right to move, and rezoning. A Roof Over Our Heads aims to ensure all families in BC have access to appropriate, safe, and affordable housing.  

Implement vacancy control across BC. 

Implement a province-wide plan to build new dedicated, non-market affordable housing that aims for a quarter million units over the next decade or 25,000 new non-market units per year as proposed by the CCPA-BC and supported by the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. 

Ensure non-market affordable housing includes an appropriate amount of three, four, and five-bedroom + options to ensure large families are not excluded from affordable housing options. 

Safe, Heard, Protected: A Vision for Family Law

Safe, Heard, Protected: A Vision for Family Law calls for a family law system that is financially accessible for low-income parents and caregivers in BC. We advocate for a system that ensures those impacted by intimate partner and gender-based violence are safe, heard, and protected in and by every facet of the system. 

Provide access to legal aid for those with incomes below the Market Basket Measure poverty line with adequate hours to solve complex cases. 

Overhaul the family law system to ensure women impacted by intimate partner violence are safe, heard, and protected with their right to security and safety upheld.