With renovations complete, the old Columneetza Junior Secondary School dormitories will be opening its doors on Tuesday, May 20 as a new childcare facility in Williams Lake.
Five of the facility's planned seven classes will be operating in May and the remaining two classes are set to open in September. Once fully operational, the centre will have introduced 119 new child care spaces in Williams Lake.
“We’re really happy SD 27 took this project on,” said Irene Willsie, executive director of the Women’s Contact Society (WCS). "This has been a long process...Revitalizing and re-imagining the old dormitory building was a huge project."
The new facility will be operated by the WCS in partnership with School District 27 (SD 27). Talks of the project first surfaced in 2018, 2019 as the shortage of childcare spaces in Williams Lake became evident to members of the community.
"This is a very meaningful project for the school district," said Cheryl Lenardon in an email to the Williams Lake Tribune. "We are delighted to be part of transforming an unused site into a vibrant facility that will benefit children and families."
Lenardon said the centre is an expression of the district's goal to increase collective responsibility. By introducing additional child care spaces, Lenardon said the district is not only helping address a barrier for families in the lakecity, it also expects to meet broader community needs by attracting and retaining more professionals to the area.
With construction beginning in 2023, the facility was originally expected to open in time for the beginning of the 2024, 2025 school year. Construction officially wrapped up in April 2025, and the last few weeks have seen the facility come to life as chairs, bookshelves, toys and tables were delivered and assembled.
"We are particularly proud of the inclusion of a smudging room into the design of the building for ceremony," said Lenardon, adding that Val West from the Williams Lake First Nation cultural team smudged throughout the building. "It is important that we are mindful of culture and protocol as we operate on the territories of First Nations, in this case WLFN. The smudging room and the medicine wheel gathering space in the courtyard are reflections of that intention and commitment."
The total cost for the project was $5,628,588. This includes a $136,643 contribution from the City of Williams Lake and an $800,000 contribution from SD 27. Over $4 million dollars was provided by the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, which is supported by both the provincial and federal governments.
"This new child care centre on school grounds will make a real difference for working families and single parents in Williams Lake,” said Rohini Arora, parliamentary secretary for child care in B.C., in a press release. “Being located on school grounds means easier routines for working people and a smoother transition into early learning for children. It is a meaningful step toward making child care more accessible and better connected to the needs of local families.”
The building's renovations included the installation of new sprinklers to suppress fires and a new HVAC system (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), as well as the removal of any hazardous materials used in the building's original construction, which is from the 1960s.
The facility has seven classrooms: two infant-toddler rooms for children under three years old, two school age rooms for children between the ages five and 12, one room for children between the ages three and five and two multi-age rooms. The school-age section features gender-neutral washrooms and includes a Lego room which will have shelves to display children's masterpieces, Willsie said.
Each class is furnished in a way which accommodates the children's size and development, includes activities which are also tailored to a child's age and developmental stage and features a doorway to a shared outdoor play area.
The facility's outdoor play area is designed for multi-age use and includes small climbing apparatuses built into the landscape, sandboxes which can be covered by astroturf when not in use, benches which can be used as balance beams, a medicine wheel space and a basketball court.
"Steps in a playground are really important for under-five-year-olds because they have to learn to navigate steps," said Willsie as she toured the centre with the Tribune.
The centre's Early Childhood Educators positions are fully staffed, and there are just two available positions left for responsible adults, which are non-licensed workers who would be trained locally.
"We're looking for someone who likes kids, is willing to take 20 hours of training and won't be working full time," Willsie said. "We would love to hear from you."
As for the children, almost all of the facility's seats have already been filled. There spaces available for school age children, but Willsie said the wait list for zero and five-year-old spaces is long, and infant-toddler spaces are also filled up.
"The highest demand is always for under 36 months," she said, urging parents to register their children very early on if they hope to find a space for their child in any centre. She knows some folks who have applied for a space even prior to their child was born.
Willsie's team provided an estimated of what it will cost to send a child to the centre, before any reductions through the Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACC).
Depending on the child's age, costs estimated to range between $520 per month to $1,369 per month, before ACC reductions.
As a licensed child care provider, the centre has also opted in to the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, which automatically reduces these costs by up to $900 per month per child.
On Friday, May 16, a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony was held outside in the courtyard.
West along with Thompson Rivers University Wiilliams Lake Campus Indigenous Student Services Coordinator Geraldine Bob and cultural coordinator David Archie sang a lullaby drumming song in Secwepemctsín.
When Willsie addressed the guests inside she said the centre will have workers who can speak six different languages in addition to English. Eight new Canadians have been hired and one Secwepemc person.
"You'll notice all of our dolls are diverse as well," she said.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor thanked everyone for the collaboration.
"This is an example of what can happen when we all work together."
Rathor and Willsie thanked the city's manager of economic development Beth Veenkamp for her work on the project.
Interior Health director of clinical operations Kelly Dillon told the Tribune Williams Lake area staff are really excited about the opportunity to have dedicated childcare spaces at the new facility.
"IH is receiving a portion of the 119 spaces for staff and these will be available on a first-come-first serve basis," Dillon said.
She said they wanted to thank all the partners who worked together to make the opportunity possible to support the families within the community.
Interior Health has been actively partnering with school districts, community non-profits, municipalities and community action groups to identify ways to advocate for and acquire childcare spaces for healthcare staff in licensed childcare centres across the region.
With files from Monica Lamb-Yorski
