Province commits to child-care spaces in Rivers following review

RIVERS -- Lori Kiesman joined the board advocating for a daycare in Rivers so she wouldn't have a job in a few years.

"I'm on the board, so I can retire," she said, chuckling.

For the last 30 years, Kiesman has run a licensed daycare because there was no other child-care option for her kids. She has kept the facility open ever since due to the community need.

On Saturday, she inched closer to retirement as the provincial government celebrated that 32 child-care spaces will be built in Rivers. Three vacant classrooms at Rivers Collegiate will be renovated to make room.

The project, which is funded through the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, is expected to cost $900,000. Of the 32 child-care spaces earmarked, eight will be dedicated for infants and 24 for pre-schoolers.

Kiesman, who will keep her daycare open as long as the three children entrusted to her care need space, is thrilled her services won't be needed for long.

"We know of for sure two or three families that moved to Brandon ... because they have no daycare for their child."

One of those houses remains on the market, she said.

"I wonder if they will change his mind now that we have daycare."

The announcement at the Riverdale Community Centre sounded familiar to the dozens of residents in attendance.

They heard the same thing in 2016 when the former NDP government committed to an identical number of child-care spaces. The project was put on hold once the Progressive Conservatives were sworn into power. The government wanted to review the affordability of various NDP initiatives.

"We were devastated," said Tanya Beaule, co-chairperson of the Riverdale Community Daycare Inc., which have been in existence since 2013. "It's been a year and a half of advocating efforts to get the ball rolling again ... So much hard work and blood, sweat and tears."

Beaule, however, chose to be grateful that the project is proceeding, rather than angry that those daycare spots are not already being filled.

"We are absolutely ecstatic about this news," she said in an interview.

Parents will be able to sign up their children for the daycare on an online registry at a later date.

Riding Mountain Progressive Conservative MLA Greg Nesbitt thanked community members for their patience in his speech.

Later, he defended the postponement as a necessary move.

"If we approved everything the NDP promised prior to the election, the deficit would have grown to $1.7 billion," he said.

"In my mind, there was never a doubt that this project would go ahead. I had assurances behind the scenes that this was a solid project."

Amber Woloshen, a mother of two young boys in Rivers, said public daycare will be invaluable to the community.

"We want to keep families here and it's really not an option if we don't have child care," she said.

Parents want to hold down jobs, "but we also want to live in a small, safe town and have options for child care," Woloshen added.

Donna Morken, chairperson of the Rivers and Area Community Foundation, is aware of 13 to 15 people from the Rivers area who take their kids to Brandon for daycare.

This announcement will "free up 13 to 15 spaces in Brandon once this gets going," she said. "It's a win-win."

The province also announced last week that 66 new child-care spaces will be added to the Funshine Early Learning Centre at Virden Junior High. Fifty-four spaces are set aside for preschoolers and 12 spots for infants.

The Minnedosa Community Child Care Co-operative will receive $180,077 in capital grant funding for the creation of four new child care spaces for infants.

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