MIL-OSI Canada: Construction of an 88-place French-language daycare centre in Val Therese: A major investment in early childhood

VAL THERESE, Ontario, October 18, 2024

Investing in Francophone daycare centres and French education promotes the vitality of official language minority communities and strengthens their sense of belonging.

Today, Marc G. Serré, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and to the Minister of Official Languages, and Member of Parliament (Nickel Belt), accompanied by Viviane Lapointe, Member of Parliament (Sudbury), announced an investment of more than $4.2 million in a daycare centre in Val Therese and the EarlyON Centre in Ontario. They made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages.

The investment will allow for the construction of a new 88-place daycare centre in Val Therese, a project that will meet the growing needs of families in the community. This daycare centre will have five rooms: one for 10 infants, two for 30 toddlers, and two for 48 preschool-aged children. The official opening is scheduled for September 2025.

This initiative is in addition to another project, the construction of the new French Catholic elementary school in Val Therese. The integration of a daycare centre into this school will allow children to start learning in a French-speaking institution from early childhood, strengthening their education in the French language from an early age.

This project reflects the Government of Canada’s ongoing commitment to supporting French-language education and early childhood services, while promoting the development of local community educational infrastructure.

The investment was made through the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection–Promotion–Collaboration, unveiled on April 26, 2023.

The Ontario government’s investment in the daycare centre and the EarlyON Centre amounts to nearly $1.4 million.