...For some families like mine [$10-a-Day childcare] is a survival thing. And I know there are wealthy families that are accessing $10 a-day spots in town…It just goes so much on a ‘first come first serve’ basis and connection that I feel like we might be missing some families.
-Sophia, A Whole Life report
We advocate for abundant, accessible, and inclusive public services and systems that are built to ensure equitable access for families affected by poverty and low incomes. Our approach is based on a vision for strong universal basic services in BC and building public good. This focus area encompasses our work on childcare, education, health care, housing, access to justice, and transportation.
Transit for Teens is a youth-led campaign calling on the BC government to expand the Get on Board program to provide free transit for all youth up to age 18 across every transit system in the province. Mobility is essential for teens to access school, work, community, and support services—no youth should be left behind because their families can’t afford a bus pass. Transit for Teens supports a universal, equitable approach to youth transit that supports access to education, well-being, and sustainable climate futures.
Our $10-a-Day for All advocacy supports the completion of BC’s $10-a-Day childcare system to ensure adequate, quality childcare and before-and-after school care for all children in BC. $10-a-Day for All is mobilized and led by families, parents, and caregivers impacted by a lack of access to childcare. Our A Whole Life: The Impact of $10-a-Day Child Care on the Health and Well-being of Low-Income Lone Mothers report reveals that while $10-a-day child care is life-changing for low-income lone mothers in BC, access remains limited and uneven.
Low-income families lucky enough to secure a space report better health, stability, and well-being, but too many are still left out due to scarce availability and inequitable rollout, creating a ‘lottery’ when it comes to $10-a-day spaces in BC. Our data revealed that $10-a-Day childcare enables lone mothers and low-income parents to lift themselves out of poverty. We advocate for the Province to complete the roll-out of BC’s promised universal, accessible $10-a-day system and provide equitable, accessible, quality spaces throughout BC—for all families, not just a few.
Kindergarten to Grade 12 Without Racism is a parent-led community engagement and law reform project funded by the Law Foundation of BC. The project addresses systemic racism in multiple areas of BC’s public education system. Led by racialized and Indigenous parents with lived experience, the project engages parents and caregivers in communities across the province to gather data on the impact of racism in schools and mobilize evidence-based, parent-led policy and legislative change related to BC’s Anti-Racism Act. Through community-led research, advocacy, and strategic partnerships, the project seeks to reform BC’s School Act to ensure every child and youth can learn in an environment free from the harm of racism.
Our work to establish enhanced, expanded trauma-informed family law legal aid services through Legal Aid BC builds on the outcomes of our charter challenge on access to legal aid, which ended in February 2024 with a collaborative agreement and a three-year implementation period. This project supports the Centre for Family Equity's work to support and impact the development and implementation of BC’s new trauma-informed family law legal aid clinic model.
Informed by the collaborative LABC and CFE engagement with 71 survivors and hundreds of stakeholders across the province regarding the development of the clinic model and the results shared in the Family Law Legal Aid Engagement Safe, Heard, Protected: What We Heard Report, our initiative focuses on three core areas:
BC’s transit systems must be safe, accessible, and family-supporting systems that get all families everywhere they need to go. Our Child, Youth and Family Friendly Transit Systems advocacy aims to ensure transit systems in BC are built to meet the needs of all families and youth, particularly those impacted by homelessness, stigma, low-income, and remote, underserved locations. Our vision for Child, Youth, and Family-Friendly Transit Systems includes the implementation of Transit for Teens in Budget 2026.
Our Mobilizing Justice for Youth research project aims to understand how mobility poverty—limited access to affordable transit—affects at-risk, low-income youth aged 13-18 in BC. Building on our previous initiatives such as the City of Vancouver’s Reduced Fare Transit Pilot Project and our Transit for Teens engagement, this case study funded by the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Mobilizing Justice initiative, will explore the transportation challenges faced by youth in the Lower Mainland and rural areas, especially those living in poverty, in foster care, experiencing homelessness, and facing marginalization.
This participatory research will engage youth researchers with lived experiences to gather data through interviews and focus groups. Youth participants are compensated, and all data collection will be confidential. We're inviting youth from Metro Vancouver and the Interior of BC who meet the eligibility criteria to get involved and share their experiences.
Our Mental Health Matters initiative daylights the mental health challenges of low-income parents and caregivers, many of whom are survivors of gender-based and family violence, who cannot access expensive market-based counselling support. Mental Health Matters advocates for the inclusion of counselling as a fully MSP-billable service within BC’s health care system with a minimum of 24 hours of counselling per year, per person, for low-income individuals and more funding for mental health services for family violence survivors.
In 2017, we joined a charter challenge alongside individual litigants challenging the Province of BC and Legal Aid BC, arguing that a lack of access to legal aid discriminates against women and children in poverty who are fleeing violent relationships. Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we asserted that BC was not upholding its constitutional duty to provide adequate access to justice for vulnerable women fleeing abuse. A lack of legal aid increases their vulnerability to further violence and stress.
Since we were founded in 2014, we’ve listened to the struggles of women facing violence, poverty, and inadequate legal support, and we remain committed to protecting their rights. In February 2024, the Province announced a comprehensive collaborative agreement between Centre for Family Equity, the Ministry of the Attorney General, and Legal Aid BC, which marked the end of the case and the beginning of foundational system transformation in family law legal aid in BC.
Transition all interested childcare programs to $10-a-Day sites and prioritize the creation of $10-a-Day ChildCareBC centres in childcare deserts.
Provide $10-a-Day childcare options that provide flexible hours and recognize nonstandard shift work.
Establish full province-wide public delivery of before-and-after-school care in our public school system.
Implement an Early Childhood Educator provincial wage grid starting at $30-$40/hour.
Provide a capital budget and plan to create more nonprofit, public, and Indigenous childcare programs across the province and a capital infrastructure project to construct prefabricated high-quality childcare centres using BC products and labour.
Make counselling a fully MSP-billable service within BC’s health care system and provide a minimum of 24 hours of counselling per year, per person, for low-income individuals.
Legislate and uphold every child and youth’s right to a public Kindergarten to Grade 12 public education system free and safe from the harms of racism and stigma.
Accelerate the building of all forms of affordable non-market housing with 25,000 new units per year targeted for families with incomes below $90,000.
Invest in upgrades and renovations to ensure BC’s aging affordable housing stock is safe, healthy and secure with adequate insulation and zero mold and pests.
Legislate housing as a human right in BC and develop a rights-based housing strategy with an Indigenous Gender-Based Analysis Plus (IGBA+) lens.
Provide increased funding for Legal Aid BC’s new holistic clinic model for families impacted by family violence, clinic satellite services throughout BC, and additional legal aid hours for eligible applicants available should the clinics be at capacity to ensure low-income parents and caregivers can access justice in family law.
Extend the provincial Get on Board program to include free transit for all youth up to age 18 in every transit system in BC.
Develop a Child, Youth and Family Friendly Transit Policy Framework and Introduce a ‘Family Fare’ model where parents and caregivers pay a reduced fee when accompanying children 12 and under.
Increase service and location of stops adjacent to elementary and high schools: expand transit routes and frequency near schools, community centers, family services, and shopping hubs. Ensure safe bike routes to all schools.
Provide support and funding for Walking School Buses and Play and School Streets at interested schools throughout BC.
CFE is offering free training on decolonization and reconciliation. Join us!
K-12 Without Racism focus groups expression of interest form now open. Spaces limited, join now!
BC backslides on targeted measures to eliminate child, youth and family poverty
Erase Racism in BC Schools: Families Lead the Way - Report on the K-12 Without Racism Year 1 Scoping Survey Findings
Joint letter to Minister of Citizens' Services with the BC Alliance for Health Living addresses barriers to accessing physical activities for equity-seeking families.
A Listening Campaign is a form of community engagement we carry out with our members to build community, mobilize engagement, identify concerns and priorities, and chart CFE's strategic direction.
