Local parents and children are starting to provide input into a children’s charter that district staff is currently devising. The document will be brought to council.
Squamish mother of two Maggie Georgy-Embree said that while there are some detailed tweaks Squamish could make to be more child-centred, the basics need to be covered first.
“When you think about educational opportunities and all those things, until kids have all their really basic needs met, those things don’t even matter yet,” she said, while watching her two-year-old son Cale and her four-year-old daughter Saige play at the Squamish Adventure Centre last Friday.
“Nutritional food and safe housing and clean water – all those things have to be met first.”
She said she finds groceries more expensive in Squamish than in Vancouver, and while her family was able to buy a home last year, she knows that is not possible for many families living here.
“We still spent much more than we ever thought we would,” she said.
“I think affordable housing is a really important one.”
Housing seems to be on the minds of some Squamish Elementary School students.
Asked what children need in Squamish, Cedar Valley School-Waldorf student Beau Laverdiere said, “A good, good house.”
His Grade 3 classmate Koyuki Belostotsky said she had solutions for housing in Squamish. “Some people are really poor and they don’t have any houses,” she said. “I think they should live somewhere nice and warm instead of outside so sometimes if they really need a house… they go to a place where people take care of people.”
She also had another idea.
“It would also be great if they had a little aquarium,” she said.
Neve Kelly, who is in Grade 5, said she would like Squamish to have a place for community gatherings centred on children.
“Like a place where we could have more activities, everyone could come, different families and mostly kids and play different games,” she said.
Kelly would also like to see a park dedicated to treehouses in Squamish. “A place where kids could play around, and play in tree forts,” she suggested. “And you could meet other kids and play with them.”
Georgy-Embree, a pharmacist who commutes to North Vancouver three times per week, said having local jobs for parents so they don’t have to commute would also help children thrive.
“When I commute to the city, it is almost as though I have gone away,” she said. “I work an eight-and-a-half-hour day, and then an hour commute there and an hour commute back. I get back and they are already sleeping, so it is like I missed their whole day.”
Overall, though, Squamish is a great place to raise children, she said.
“I think our city does a really good job of playgrounds and playing outside is really important,” she said, adding she particularly appreciates the bike course at Brennan Park.
At its meeting Nov. 17 council directed district staff to work with the Putting Children First Initiative and key stakeholders to bring back a Squamish Children’s Charter for future consideration.
Council also directed staff to put an early childhood and family-focused lens on the Official Community Plan (OCP), strategic plan and bylaws and when considering proposed developments.
“As we go through OCPs, as we make decisions on how we are building… how we are connecting our roads and our active transportation infrastructure,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman. “We’re always cognizant of the needs of kids and the needs of young families and moms with kids and dads with kids, because it is different than it is for adults.”
The charter is part of the district’s Healthy Communities Capacity Building, which also includes the Squamish Food Charter and Active Transportation Plan.
