Featured Charter Items:
Featured Champions:
Spotlight on Place Maillardville, Coquitlam
New digs to meet accessiblity
Spotlight on Terry Fox Library, Port Coquitlam
Programs meeting diversity
Spotlight on The Village Toy Shop, Port Moody
More than just a toy shop
Community Snapshot - Moving forward with kids in mind
The following organizations are championing children's rights in the Tri-Cities area. Find out how they are doing it.
Place Maillardville Community Centre (PMCC) is operated by Société Place Maillardville Society, which is a not-for-profit organization located right in the heart of Maillardville. Since we opened our doors in 2001, PMCC has become the neighbourhood hub, a true gathering place for the residents of Maillardville and participants throughout the Tri-Cities area. Originally built to meet the needs of the mainly French-Canadian residents of Maillardville, the centre has grown its vision and recreational opportunities to better serve the diverse cultures and needs from the surrounding neighbourhood. We strive to offer general recreation programs and courses for all ages and abilities at an affordable rate. Our relationship with our patrons is unique. Our staff develop a personal connection with our patrons, often from a very young age, and it continues as they grow through our age groups, often giving back to the centre as older teen volunteers or instructors.
During the year, we offer programming for families and children that emphasize the importance of creating positive interactions through sports, crafts, singing and play. These programs take place either on-site at our facility, at local parks, or at local schools within the community. With funding support from the United Way of the Lower Mainland, most of our family/children programming is either low cost or free, reducing financial barriers and making our programs more accessible for families.
Earlier this year, Coquitlam City Council approved funding for a new facility to replace the current Place Maillardville Community Centre. With a tentative competition date of Fall 2022, the new building will be built along side the current facility, which will ensure the continuity of our service right up to the move in date of the new building.
The new facility will include a gymnasium and will be almost double our current square footage, vastly increasing our active recreation space and physical accessibility throughout the building. The new programming space will allow us to provide more family and children opportunities for many years to come.
For more information about Place Maillardville Community Centre please visit www.placemaillardville.ca or email info@placemaillardville.ca.
As part of the Fraser Valley Regional Library (FVRL), the Terry Fox Library’s mission is Opening Minds. Enabling Dreams. FVRL’s vision is improving the quality of life for our communities through knowledge, ideas and experiences. This mission and vision are especially important when it comes to supporting our youngest customers as they learn and grow.
In keeping with that focus, the Terry Fox Library is a special place for all children in our community. Children from all walks of life come here to enjoy their own space stocked with learning toys from building blocks to puppets, as well as a lending collection and a variety of programs that are thoughtfully designed to inspire creative play and exploration. Whether it be building forts in the library after closing, joining in the fun of Summer Reading Club or enjoying stories and songs in storytime and babytime, the Terry Fox Library offers many avenues for children to dream and learn. Our staff is dedicated to supporting the rights of all children, and we are always looking for new ways to be inclusive and welcoming to all. We have offered programs like Sensory Storytimes that invite children with special needs and their caregivers to experience a storytime tailored to them. The room offers soft lighting, a structured activity schedule and adaptive ways to tell stories.
Through FVRL’s Playground, which supports STEAM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), children have free access to new and innovative lending collections. Children can borrow ukuleles and Sphero SPRK+ robots to learn music or coding at home, and our latest addition of telescopes to lend will inspire children and families to explore our galaxy! We also offer exciting and enriching in-library experiences with technologies including virtual reality, green screens and Makey Makey invention kits. There is so much to discover at the Terry Fox Library, and we invite all children and families to come experience it for themselves!
The Village Toy Shop is a Family Friendly Business, which means it provides a positive attitude, safe amenities, and engaging activities for family customers. In 2011, The Village Toy Shop won the Champion for Young Children Award in the Business Category. This business does more than just sell toys.
Children who come to The Village Toy Shop have an opportunity to explore and create via the 3 different play tables for hands-on exploration. So kids get to try new things before their parents make a purchase. They also have various play day events throughout the year that allows kids to have some play time and interact with other kids in the community. In spring, they have a Calico Critters day where children can create crafts outside, draw with sidewalk chalk and make bubbles. In addition, they have a Neighbourhood Toy Store day where children can perform fun, age-appropriate science experiments, test new toys and make crafts.
The friendly and accommodating staff, Toyologists, at The Village Toy Shop are dedicated to helping kids explore, dream and create by experimenting with toys themselves and then sharing their cool toy knowledge with families. It also helps them guide families to products that might be the right fit for their children. Learn more about Teresa Johansson and her store.
Moving forward with kids in mind.
SD43 addresses access to recreation by including MoreSports into their after school programming for elementary students. In addition, SD43’s first annual SD43 Track Meet for Adapted Sport on June 6, 2018 was a great success. They will build on what they learned this year to make it even better next year.
Each library in our community has many activities and programs that facilitate exploration, learning and imagination. They not only have books, but are also places to gather and learn together. Additionally, they are incorporating more and more high tech resources for kids to create, dream and explore. Click the links below to explore more.
We are fortunate in the Tri-Cities to have so many parks, nature, recreation and leisure programs and so much thought for children and families. Recreation Programs in each city offer accessible programs for all children. All you have to do is talk to someone about what you and your child needs and they will work to accommodate you. Visit the Tri-Cities Unplug and Connect additional resources page to find different links for parks, facilities and programs.
Gathering youth's voices: The City of Coquitlam is currently surveying youth from 11 to 18 until August 31, 2018 regarding parks and recreation services as they will be updating Coquitlam's Youth Recreation Plan.
Live 5210 Play Box Program provides access to sports equipment for everyone via Play Boxes in Port Moody & Port Coquitlam
Community Policing – Junior Mountie Program, age 9-11 (Cadet) age 12-14 (Corporal) – While applications for this program running in August 2018 have already been processed, keep it in mind for next year!
Find resources such as the Charter of Rights in Farsi, Chinese and Korean, PDFs to promote the Rights, and external links about child rights.
Check out all our Rights in Action newsletters: