By Mike Vanden Bosch

Child care expansion in Chilliwack

City of Chilliwack numbers reveal rapid expansion of child care programs, spaces in the past 6 years

Feb 18, 2026 | 11:22 AM

CHILLIWACK — Newly released statistics from the City of Chilliwack reveal there’s been a rapid expansion of child care facilities, spaces and programs across the city the past six years.

According to a city staff report introduced at Tuesday’s council meeting, nearly 100 new child care programs have opened between 2019 and 2025, leading to the creation of 1,891 new child care spaces.

Drilling down, there are now at least 191 facilities and 256 programs in Chilliwack, creating 4,314 child care spaces in Chilliwack.

The Chilliwack Child Care Needs Assessment & Strategy was received by Chilliwack City Council on March 17, 2020. It was developed in 2019 and featured an inventory of existing child care spaces, information regarding child care needs in the community, goals for the creation of additional child care spaces over the next 10 years, and actions to be initiated by various stakeholders to meet these goals.

Back in 2019, feedback from providers and parents indicated the most prevalent issues included a lack of supply, limited hours of operation, and lack of options. The Child Care Strategy set four strategic directions, which included 23 actions for various stakeholders to implement over a 10-year timeframe to achieve a child care access rate target of 25% (25 spaces per 100 children).

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In 2019, Chilliwack’s child care access rate was less than 18 spaces per 100 children ages 0 to 12. Today, Chilliwack’s child care access rates have increased by 38 per cent, and is now at 25 spaces per 100 children ages 0 to 12.

A city staff report suggests this result is likely related to increased funding provided from provincial and federal governments, and the city’s broadly supportive regulatory approach to child care.

As just a few examples of the rapid growth, a former government-owned retail store on Vedder Road in Sardis was converted into a CEFA Early Learning child care centre last year, while the former Rendezvous restaurant at Young Road and Victoria just north of downtown Chilliwack will be repurposed into a child care facility and open later this year.