Construction started late last month on the new mem7iman Early Childhood Development Centre on shíshálh (Sechelt) First Nation lands west of the Band Hall.
The $4.5-million facility will almost double the number of childcare spaces from what is currently offered at the mem7iman longhouse, expanding the program to include infants and toddlers, Lenora Joe, the Band’s director of education, culture and recreation, said Tuesday.
“We’re going from two classes to five,” Joe said. “We’re looking at 70 seats.”
The current centre is filled to capacity with 38 children, ages three and four. An infant/toddler program is being introduced this month in the Band’s education building, but all 12 seats are taken and there are 14 parents on the waiting list, Joe said.
“We’re finding that we’re getting more and more working parents,” she said.
The new facility, which will include a large outdoor playground and a fitness room on the second floor, is scheduled for completion on March 31, 2015 and opening next September. The total area of the building will be 1,134 square metres (12,206 square feet).
The Band considered launching a shíshálh immersion kindergarten program in the new complex, but has put that initiative on hold for now, Joe said.
“We will be equipped at any time to do a kindergarten program. We’re just not ready to move forward with that and I’m not sure if the public is ready, either.”
The contractor for the project is Coast-based Spani Developments.
The word mem7iman is defined in the Sechelt Dictionary as “babies, children.”
