Westbank First Nation says it can support children better thanks to its new Early Years Centre located in the Youth Centre.
It was officially opened during a celebration on Friday, although it's been in operation since last year.
Margaret Eli Early Years Manager says the centre has allowed them to add programs that support child and infant development.
“Like any other community we have a lot of children that maybe have speech impediments or autism,” she said “so we’re able to now identify them earlier, catch it before they go to school and start to address some of the issues.”
The centre did two, week long camps over the summer for child development and already schools in the area have noticed a difference in the students.
Eli says prior to the new centre, Early Years would run its 6 programs in different buildings and bringing it all under one roof was a long time coming.
“We had been working in early children for many, many, years in several different facilities” she said “About a year and a half ago we were able to increase our staff by over 100% and at that time the need was seen that we needed a facility to work with the children, you can’t work just in little cubbies in another building.”
The centre has 8 full-time employees, 1 permanent part-time employee, 1 casual employee, 4 summer students and 4 childcare provides.
The official opening also celebrated recognition from the province which has allowed the centre to become one of 50 BC Early Years Centres in the province.