Governments of Canada and Manitoba Celebrate Opening of New Child-Care Facility in Fort Rouge

Press Release

September 23, 2024

Families with young children in Winnipeg will benefit from a new child-care facility opening its doors this fall, Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds and Premier Wab Kinew announced today.

“With these new child-care spots in Winnipeg, we are planting the seeds for a brighter future – one where kids get to learn from the land and their community,” said Sudds. “We will keep working hard to create more spots to get kids off wait lists and into high-quality, affordable child care close to home. Every family deserves access to child care that gives their children the best possible start in life and we are committed to making that a reality.”

S.P.L.A.S.H. Child Care Inc. in Winnipeg has expanded its operations to facilitate 40 new child-care spaces.  These new child-care spaces have been created through S.P.L.A.S.H.’s new Urban Learning Centre, which joins S.P.L.A.S.H.’s Early Learning Centre at 109 Pulford St. as well as S.P.L.A.S.H.’s two other facilities in Winnipeg for a total of 236 infant, preschool and school-age spaces. The new site will offer 10 preschool and 30 school-age spaces.

The Manitoba government invested $215,000 in capital grant funding to create new school-age spaces through the Early Learning and Child Care Building Fund and provided an additional $13,000 in one-time start-up grant funding.

“Affordable and accessible child care is the backbone of a strong economy where everyone can participate,” said Kinew. “This is an important step towards our commitment to create more child-care spaces for Manitoba families. This announcement is about making life better for families today and investing in our kids for the future.”

The Government of Canada invested a further $175,000 under the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Agreement to create new preschool spaces through the Child Care Renovation Expansion Grant and provided $4,500 in one-time start-up grant funding. Annual operating funding for preschool-aged spaces will be provided to S.P.L.A.S.H via the Canada-Manitoba Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement to ensure long-term sustainability of these new spaces, noted the minister.

“It is important for Manitoba children and students to have the best possible learning environments throughout our province,” said Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Nello Altomare. “S.P.L.A.S.H.’s expansion will also enable the centre to continue to provide exceptional programming rooted in Indigenous knowledge.”

For more information about early learning and child-care in Manitoba, visit:  www.manitoba.ca/education/childcare/.

For more information on the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care agreements, visit: www.canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories/manitoba-canada-wide-2021.html.

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For more information:

• Public information, contact Manitoba Government Inquiry: 1-866-626-4862 or 204-945-3744.
• Media requests for general information, contact Communications and Engagement: newsroom@gov.mb.ca.
• Media requests for ministerial comment, contact Cabinet Communications: cabcom@manitoba.ca.

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