More childcare spaces needed as families face estimated $35,000 income impact annually

Growth in local childcare remains slow for the 160 families still waiting for a space with Revelstoke Child Care Society or other childcare options in town.

In a recent Childcare Needs Assessment report conducted by the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce, 100 per cent of the 192 responders cited availability of spaces as the highest need to improve Revelstoke’s childcare scene. Roughly 71 per cent of the respondents said lack of childcare impacts their ability to return to the workforce, costing some families an estimated $35,000 annually in lost wages.

“We’re just in a whole new reality where two people need to be able to work, and that puts so much stress and pressure on families to try to find solutions forward,” Tracy Spanier, co-executive director of Revelstoke Child Care Society said.

The society’s Stepping Stones Child Care Centre recently opened 12 new infant and toddler spaces at its location within the former Okanagan College Revelstoke centre, which filled up immediately from the lengthy waitlist, Spanier said.

Increasing options for childcare will take a combined effort, she added. 

“It’s going to take everybody pulling in the same direction to create enough spaces for all families to be able to have childcare.”

With funding and support from ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, School District 19 and the

Columbia Basin Trust, Revelstoke Child Care Society was able to install upgrades throughout Stepping Stones location along with the room and resources needed for the 12 additional spots.

“While the need for infant toddler care far outweighs the existing number of spaces, opening our third infant toddler child care room is a step forward in making an impact, supporting families and providing excellent early learning experiences,” Carolyn Duncan, Revelstoke Child Care Society chair wrote in a press release announcing the new spaces. 

Revelstoke’s changing childcare scene

With the 12 new infant and toddler spaces, supporting continued childcare is also a priority as the children move to the ages three to five program before heading to Kindergarten.

Part of that plan includes expansion into the sections of the centre vacated by Okanagan College. Taking advantage of the modular-style of the building, classrooms will be added and brought online in the coming years with support from School District 19 and BC Hydro. An estimated 16 additional spaces for children ages three to five is expected out of the project.

“We’re really delighted to have those two opportunities in front of us to keep growing,” Spanier said.

Two key workforce population shifts in Revelstoke could see more movement in Revelstoke Child Care Society’s waitlist in the years to come as well. 

While Spanier doesn’t expect to see the impact from Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway relocating a majority of workers from Revelstoke to Kamloops until closer to September, she does anticipate some families moving up in the waitlist as others are withdrawn. 

BC Hydro’s unit six project at the Revelstoke Dam is expected to bring roughly 200 workers to Revelstoke throughout the six-year project. However, BC Hydro doesn’t anticipate many workers relocating their families to Revelstoke for the work, project manager Allison McMillan told Revelstoke Mountaineer at an October 2025 open house. Instead, she expects workers coming to Revelstoke for the project to use potential staff housing for short-term stays. 

But Spanier anticipates some workers may stay put and bring their families to stay in Revelstoke or even starting families here.

“The project’s quite long, so there could be more families developing as it goes along,” she said.

Any growth in Revelstoke’s childcare scene, especially for licensed programs that require early childhood educators, needs to come with staff growth resources as well, Spanier added. That includes pathways for training and post-secondary education.

“If we move educators from one place to another, then it’s a loss of spaces here and a gain of spaces there and a net zero,” she said, explaining that Revelstoke Child Care Society team members are using the Columbia Basin Trust child care support program to complete their early childhood educator training.

“We need to make sure we’re all working on bringing more educators into the community or training educators in place,” Spanier said.