Vancouver is launching its first licensed weekend childcare programs for working parents; an events guide for September 14–20; and a Statistics Canada report shows that Canadian cities continue to build homes in flood-prone areas.
Vancouver Launches First Licensed Weekend Childcare Programs: A Shift for Working Parents
In today’s world, where working hours have long ceased to follow the standard “nine to five,” finding affordable childcare on weekends has become a genuine headache for millions of families. Vancouver, one of Canada’s most dynamic cities, has taken an important step toward addressing the problem by opening the first licensed extended-day programs for school-age children operating on Saturdays and Sundays. The development, reported by CBC News, marks not merely the arrival of a new service but the beginning of a significant cultural shift in the social-support system.
From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific time, children aged five to 12 can now attend the Champlain Heights community centre. The initiative did not emerge out of nowhere: Robert Baxter, president of the community-centre association and a parent himself, noticed that the building sat largely unused on weekends while many families were desperately looking for someone to care for their children. “We realized our childcare centre was underused on weekends,” the publication quoted him as saying. The program’s main feature is flexibility. Parents can register their child for a single day or for several weekends, which is crucial for people working rotating schedules. The service costs $65 per day. However, Baxter notes that, unlike private babysitters or unlicensed sitters, the program allows parents to access the provincial fee-reduction program for childcare, making expenses more predictable.
Vancouver city councillor Sean Orr emphasizes that affordability and access to childcare are issues that concern most city residents. “Not everyone works nine to five,” he said. “It’s really important to be able to access childcare during non-standard hours.” Orr also added that weekend services could be especially valuable for newly arrived immigrants, who often lack the support of extended family members able to help with grandchildren or nieces and nephews. The observation highlights the project’s social role: it not only makes working life easier but also supports integration.
Perhaps the most important comment, however, came from Sharon Gregson of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia. She calls the arrival of weekend programs “a major cultural shift” and points out that such a service has long been needed. According to her, about 75 percent of children in the province do not have access to licensed childcare, and one of the main reasons is the lack of flexible operating hours. Doctors, nurses, emergency-service workers, hotel and restaurant employees, and real-estate agents often work precisely when traditional childcare centres are closed. “This is a really great start,” Gregson concludes.
To understand the significance of the change, several points should be clarified. Licensed childcare means that a facility meets government standards for safety, hygiene and staff qualifications, giving parents legal protections and access to subsidies. Unlicensed care, such as babysitting, may be cheaper or more convenient, but it is not regulated by the government and does not qualify for tax deductions or provincial support programs. That is why moving from “hourly babysitting” to a structured solution based at a community centre represents a qualitative leap. Rotating schedules, mentioned in the article, are common in service and healthcare industries, where employees work shifts and their days off may fall in the middle of the week—or on Saturday and Sunday—making standard childcare centres impractical.
Baxter said he hopes their example will inspire other community centres to follow suit. “We hope this becomes an example that really moves the needle and fills this gap,” he said. For now, it is only a first step, but it demonstrates the willingness of city authorities and community organizations to adapt to the realities of the modern labour market. If the Champlain Heights experiment proves successful, it could become a model for the entire province, where a shortage of childcare spaces remains one of the most urgent social problems.
Things to Do in Vancouver from September 14 to 20: A Guide to the Last Week of Summer
The last official week of summer in Vancouver always feels like a brief pause before the rainy season, and the city seems determined to get as much as possible out of the warm weather. These seven days feature several major music events, theatre premieres, food festivals and street celebrations spanning almost every part of Metro Vancouver—from Granville Island to Whistler and Richmond. In its article “20 fantastic things to do in Vancouver this week: Sept. 14 to 20,” Daily Hive compiled 20 reasons not to stay home. The list is worth examining more closely because behind its entertainment-focused format lies a fairly precise snapshot of what drives the city: a mix of nostalgia for 1990s rock, Indigenous art, sustainable fishing and local food culture.
The week’s main musical attraction is Keanu Reeves, who is coming to Vancouver not to film a movie but with his band Dogstar as part of the All In Now tour. The concert takes place on Wednesday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Vogue Theatre. The event is interesting from two perspectives: Reeves is both a Canadian and Hollywood icon and a four-time MTV Movie Award winner, while his band remains the same 1990s grunge group that released a new album only this spring. That same evening, at 8 p.m. at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Beck, an eight-time Grammy winner, will perform as part of his Ride Lonesome tour. Live-music fans will therefore have to choose between two venues on the same night.
The musical week’s climax will be, with a note about the future, the announcement of Foo Fighters. The band will bring its Take Cover stadium tour to BC Place on September 20, 2026, marking its first stadium tour in years. Queens of the Stone Age will join the Canadian dates—a band whose heavy, hypnotic style is perfectly suited to the stadium format. For Vancouver, this is more than just a concert: it confirms the city’s status as a mandatory stop for artists of “15 Grammy” calibre.
The cultural program is just as packed. The Vancouver Fringe Festival, running from September 10 to 20, turns Granville Island and other city venues into a laboratory for experimental theatre, with more than 80 productions, two days of free children’s events and the return of the free Fringe Patio music series. Duran Cruickshank deserves special mention: at Little Mountain Gallery, he performs a 35-minute solo version of Home Alone, playing 33 characters across 29 scenes, with 11 pizzas, 10 traps and two burglars. It is exactly the kind of format in which festival aesthetics meet pop-culture nostalgia and push the performer’s endurance to its limits. BBC Culture has repeatedly noted that such one-person shows often become festivals’ biggest discoveries—and this is precisely such a case.
A major thematic highlight of the week is the ʔəm̓i ce:p xwiwəl (Come Toward the Fire) festival, presented by the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in partnership with the Musqueam people from September 18 to 20. Artists, musicians, speakers and dance groups from Musqueam and other Indigenous nations of Turtle Island—as North America is known in Indigenous tradition—will share one stage. This is fundamentally different from an ordinary city festival: culture is not being put on display but presented as a living practice. Some events are free, while others require tickets. The Still Moon Arts Society’s full-moon festival, held with the Renfrew Park Community Association, is similar in spirit. This year’s theme is “Tiny Life,” featuring origami, lanterns and performances, with events continuing through September 26.
Theatrical classics are represented by Bard on the Beach, one of Canada’s largest not-for-profit Shakespeare festivals, running through September 19 at Vanier Park on the waterfront. This season’s productions include The Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth, Goblin:Oedipus and Antigone. The context matters: the festival has existed since 1990 and has long been part of Vancouver’s cultural identity, while its waterfront tents are among the city’s most recognizable visual symbols.
For those who prefer movement to the stage, Bike the Night takes place on Friday, September 18. The free nighttime bike ride along the Seawall features music, lighting and prizes and is designed for all ages and skill levels. The evening begins with a festival at David Lam Park from 5 to 10 p.m., featuring live music, food trucks, registration with Project 529—a bicycle-registration service that helps recover stolen bikes—and bike tuneups from MEC. The first wave starts at 6:30 p.m. and is intended for younger riders; the second begins at 7:45 p.m.
The food section of the list reflects how Vancouver is rethinking local resources. In Richmond, the Divers’ Catch Festival, organized by the BC Dive Fisheries Society, returns for a second year on September 19. It celebrates sustainably harvested seafood, with geoduck, sea urchin (uni) and sea cucumber—hand-harvested in British Columbia waters—as the main attractions. Admission is $138.88 per person, with sessions from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery. The price may seem high, but it reflects not only the food but also the festival’s educational mission: showing that sustainable hand-harvesting represents a distinct economy and culture rather than an exotic novelty. By comparison, the Richmond Night Market, which is taking place for the final time this year on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holiday Mondays through September 20, charges only $7 admission and offers more than 500 food items, the world’s first night-market zipline and a Trading Card zone. This year’s theme is “Little Wonder World,” complete with a giant soccer installation. Children under seven and adults aged 60 and over enter free, while a Zoom Pass costs $40.
Local food culture is also expanding in North Vancouver. Ignite Pizzeria has opened its first North Shore location in the historic 1904 Beasley Block building at 101 Lonsdale Ave. The dough is fermented for five days and baked on stone at 800 degrees Fahrenheit. The location also offers an expanded menu, cocktails, a wine list, a south-facing patio and a daily happy hour. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Another important thread this week is visual art. At Pendulum Gallery, 885 W. Georgia St., the Splash 2026 Art Collection exhibition runs through October 1, featuring about 100 works donated by Canadian and international artists. The artists include Andrew Dadson, a multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of painting, photography and installation; Edward Burtynsky, one of the world’s best-known contemporary photographers, whose industrial landscapes have long become part of the visual canon of the Anthropocene; and Marie Khouri, a sculptor with studios in Paris and Vancouver. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, until 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and until 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free, and no appointment is required.
Historical walks and sports occupy their own niches. On September 19 at 1 p.m., Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours presents the Death and Life of Granville Street Walking Tour, led by historian and writer Aaron Chapman and Forbidden Vancouver founder Will Woods. Over six blocks, the tour explores a century of change, including vaudeville stages, movie palaces and urban-planning experiments. Tickets cost $35, with participants meeting at Vancouver City Centre station. That same day at 2 p.m., Vancouver Rise faces Montreal Roses in the Northern Super League at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby. Tickets start at $20 plus fees.
Finally, the 13th Whistler Village Beer Festival, running from September 16 to 20, turns the village into a craft-beer capital, with Oktoberfest, a craft brunch, “bandoke”—karaoke with a live band—and the main event on September 19 from noon to 5 p.m. at Whistler Olympic Plaza, where visitors can sample dozens of ciders and beers.
Canadian Cities Continue Building Homes in Flood-Prone Areas
A new Statistics Canada report published earlier this month has raised concerns among urban-planning specialists and climatologists: a significant share of homes in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, and Chilliwack, British Columbia, is located in areas at high risk of flooding. The report’s authors also note that in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, the share of recently built housing in such hazardous areas is increasing. This is happening amid an acute housing crisis and government programs aimed at increasing construction. In other words, the effort to address housing affordability quickly may unintentionally expose more Canadians to flood-related risks, which are expected to become more frequent and intense as a result of climate change.
The most striking situation is in Winnipeg. More than 112,000 properties—45 percent of all dwellings in the metropolitan area—are located in high-risk flood zones. Statistics Canada defines these areas as locations where at least 80 percent of the land falls within the boundaries of so-called 100-year floodplains: areas with a one-percent chance of flooding in any given year. At the same time, the share of homes built in these zones is increasing. One important caveat is that the report does not account for protective infrastructure such as dikes and diversion channels, which Winnipeg uses in particular. However, the authors stress that the data still provide a useful indication of which areas could be affected if those protective systems fail.
In Metro Vancouver, more than 85,000 homes—slightly more than 10 percent of the housing stock—are located in high-risk areas vulnerable both to spring flooding on the Fraser River and to coastal storm surges. However, as Samuel McIntyre, a senior analyst with the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, points out, these figures are understated because they do not include high- and low-rise multi-unit buildings. Vancouver presents a somewhat unexpected picture compared with the rest of the country: the average assessed value of properties in flood zones was 4.5 percent higher than in areas not exposed to flooding, while the incomes of people living in those homes were 17 percent lower. In addition, Metro Vancouver’s flood-zone population includes a disproportionately high share of people over 55. McIntyre explains that many of them are likely retirees with modest incomes who nevertheless own relatively expensive property. This contrasts with the rest of the province, where high-risk areas generally have lower assessed property values.
One reason for this paradox, according to Hadi Mohammad Nahiduzzaman, a professor of engineering at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus, is that land in river floodplains is usually cheaper for developers. “When they acquire this land for construction, the overall cost goes down, and then these retirees can easily afford such homes. But that is a misconception,” he says. In his view, more effective government regulation is needed to ensure that vulnerable groups are not disproportionately exposed to flood risk.
Statistics Canada’s report does not provide geographic data more detailed than the metropolitan-area level. However, the Fraser Basin Council has already prepared flood maps for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley that account for protective infrastructure and model several scenarios, including snowmelt flooding and coastal storms. Steve Litke, the council’s director of water programs, believes the region’s protective infrastructure would mostly withstand a 100-year storm. In Metro Vancouver, flooding would most likely be limited to areas along the river, but in Chilliwack, which is also mentioned in the report, flooding could extend beyond the dikes, particularly around the Vedder Canal. “In British Columbia, we are more concerned about 200-year floods or record floods,” Litke says. “We should be very concerned about our exposure to events of that magnitude. Early signs indicate that we are going to see larger and more frequent floods. What used to be a 100-year flood could become a 50-year flood.” Under a Fraser River flood scenario involving a half-metre rise in sea level by 2050, significant parts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley would be submerged, including large areas of Chilliwack, Abbotsford and Agassiz, as well as parts of Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Port Coquitlam.
Litke emphasizes that such scenarios demonstrate the importance not only of building protective infrastructure but also of maintaining and upgrading it as the climate changes. “This is very expensive infrastructure to build, maintain and especially upgrade. Staying ahead of climate projections, considering raising and widening dikes, accounting for a one-metre rise in sea level and dealing with coastal dikes—that is a major challenge,” he says.
The Statistics Canada report does not include data for Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut, nor does it cover Indigenous reserves, non-residential properties or vacant land. Nevertheless, it makes one point clear: Canada continues to expand housing construction in areas that are highly likely to face flood threats. Without coordinated regulation and climate-adaptation measures, this trend could have serious humanitarian and financial consequences.
