The municipality of Frelighsburg is preparing for the opening of its first daycare in the next months under the Quebec government’s daycare pilot project that was launched in April.
The pilot project encourages municipalities across Quebec to find a municipal space that can serve as a daycare to help address the challenge of accessing day care services in Quebec.
A request was sent to the provincial government by an existing centre de petit enfance (CPE), a childcare centre, with the support of the municipality in order to get a CPE up and running in the village, but the request was refused.
“Unfortunately, our project was refused because all of the places were already attributed elsewhere in the MRC. Our project was very interesting, it got the stamp of approval of the reviewing committee, but unfortunately that’s how it works. There is only a limited number of spaces,” explained Catherine Marsan-Loyer, municipal councillor for Frelighsburg who has been helping coordinate the project.
Marsan-Loyer said that the daycare spots were given to the CPEs in Knowlton and Cowansville, which she noted were in great need of the additional spaces, but left Frelighsburg in a position that is being experienced across Quebec.
“We have a high demand, there have been births all summer, there’s more planned, families are growing. They are coming to the village, they are coming to the region, so there is a demand and need. We wanted to help as municipality because if the families don’t have places for their children, they will leave,” she said.
As a result, they looked towards the Ministry of Family’s provincial pilot project.
“It’s kind of like a home daycare, but in a space provided by the municipality. It is coordinated by the office coordinator for daycares in homes of the MRC, which is called Les Pommettes Rouges. They are giving the places and they are managing everything,” mentioned Marsan-Loyer.
As a small village, Marsan-Loyer said that it was difficult finding a municipal space.
“We looked up places that weren’t municipal first. We did find one, but the rent has to be signed between the childcare managers and the municipality for it to work. It kind of got complicated with a third party. So, we turned the tables and decided to repurpose a municipal space that was not being used right now,” she explained.
Needing furniture, fresh paint, some touch ups, and officially signed contracts with interested childcare educators, the daycare is expected to open in the upcoming winter months.
“I know that people are ready to give names, I have people that have already approached me. (…) It is the childcare managers who will manage the daycare, the municipality will not manage anything. The two people who will run this daycare, they will decide, they will take names, and they will sign contracts with the parents,” emphasized Marsan-Loyer.
An announcement will eventually be made to inform parents as to how they can go about registering their child on a waiting list.
Updates on the project can be found in the municipality’s newsletter “Le Messager,” on its Facebook page, or its website.
Listen to the full interview below: