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Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

an empty classroom with wooden desks and windows

Funding granted for upgrades to Rexton school

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Bonar Law Memorial School in Five Rivers, New Brunswick, is set to receive extensive mid-life upgrades including a large addition to its pre-existing campus.

The school, with 515 students, has seen enrolment growth of more than eight per cent annually over the last five years.

The project is expected to take seven years to complete at $31 million. The blueprint proposes an additional 33,314 square feet with three classrooms, a multi-purpose room, a workshop, a shared classroom, and a laboratory or study space. Other plans for resource rooms and offices are woven into the project.

Construction is expected to begin in 2027 or 2028, with completion by 2033. $1.3 million of the 2026-27 capital budget will be put towards the design process.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Department of Transportation (DTI) and Infrastructure say that more people moving to the area has led to the investment in the nearly 50-year-old school.

“[Students] need facilities and resources to allow them to explore their options and develop their skills and competencies. Modernizing the school and creating more space for the growing number of students at Bonar Law will help students thrive and succeed,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Claire Johnson in a release.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson says he and the department are proud to help modernize facilities like Bonar Law.

“I look forward to working with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to ensure Bonar Law Memorial is a school that continues to meet the community’s needs for decades to come,” said Chiasson.

Dean Mutch, superintendent of Anglophone North School District, says the upgrade ensures the building remains a safe and inspiring place for students and staff.

“We truly believe that our rural and small community schools are critical, and they are worth investing in,” said Mutch.

Eastern Charlotte Council

Eastern Charlotte puts daycare project on hold over funding shortfall

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Lack of provincial funding has put Eastern Charlotte’s daycare building in limbo.

In a special meeting last Tuesday, the municipality’s council decided to cancel awarding the tender for the construction of the St. George YMCA daycare, citing a lack of provincial funding.

The earliest conception of the daycare dates to before the 2023 amalgamation, when the provincial government approached the community about childcare needs highlighted in the 2023–26 Early Learning and Childcare Action Plan.

In an interview with Acadia Broadcasting last Thursday, CAO Jason Gaudet said that when the project was first proposed, it was understood the province would cover 40 per cent of the costs, the federal government another 40 per cent, and the municipality 20 per cent.

However, the province has now reduced its contribution to $500,000.

The federal government provided $800,000 for the project, of which $270,000 was allocated for planning fees. The remainder was funding designated for the creation of childcare spaces under the federal government’s Canada Early Learning and Childcare Act.

According to Gaudet, with the province’s current contribution, the municipality would have to cover about $1.36-million to complete construction of the daycare if it accepted the lowest bid.

“We didn’t believe at the time that over 50 per cent of the project would come back on the municipality,” he said.

“We were under the believe the province was going to help support this, and we were certainly going to be a partner, we didn’t believe we were going to lead the way.”

According to plans shared by the municipality, the building was expected to have 82 spaces in total, including 52 childcare spaces for children aged one to five and 30 after‑school spaces for children aged five to 12.

The municipality had partnered with the YMCA of Southwestern New Brunswick, which was going to provide programming based on the National YMCA Playing to Learn curriculum.

According to a press release shared by the municipality in May 2025, construction was planned to start in March 2026, but council has now decided to put the project on hold until it can secure more funding from either the province or other investors.

Gaudet said council does not believe it could secure the remaining costs through fundraising and is not willing to borrow money or raise the tax rate to pay for the building.

At the meeting, council also explored the option of building a smaller daycare, but Gaudet said nothing has been decided.

He said that if council chooses that option, the project would need to be retendered, which could take a significant amount of time.

Gaudet said council recognizes the need for childcare, based on resident feedback and the government’s study, but believes most of the project’s cost should not fall on the municipality.

“Municipalities are not looking to address childcare gaps. It’s usually not within our mandate. However, we sat at the table with the province and said, ‘How can we help?’”

Gaudet said the municipality has asked the province to consider increasing its contribution, but at the time of the interview, it had yet to respond.

In an email statement Monday, Department of Education and Early Childhood spokesperson Diana Chávez said the Regional Development Corporation — the provincial Crown corporation responsible for supporting communities and driving economic growth across government departments — would “entertain” keeping its 40 per cent contribution above the $500,000.

She said this would depend on the municipality providing a sustainable business plan for the childcare centre and outlining how it will raise the remaining funds.

She added that the province’s Child Care Connect waitlist guides the allocation of designated childcare spaces.

Ability NB hub Dec 5 2025

Ability New Brunswick launches new portal for early learning centres

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By Nathalie Sturgeon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Courier

Ability New Brunswick has launched a new microsite aimed at helping early learning centres and daycares create more inclusive spaces for children with mobility disabilities.

Haley Flaro, the executive director of Ability New Brunswick, noted that the organization observed a trend in those facilities and decided to partner with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD).

Childcare centres were inquiring about how to build inclusive playgrounds and classroom spaces, as well as grant and funding opportunities to support this work.​

“It really was a natural next step for us, because we know that inclusion starts really early, and we have a lot of families that often struggle to find accessible, inclusive daycares for children with a mobility disability,” she said, speaking with The Courier. “This was a perfect partnership for us, and we’re really excited … with the hub that’s been developed.”

According to the Government of New Brunswick (GNB), in June 2024, an estimated 35.3 per cent of people had a disability. It is the second-highest rate of disability in Canada, falling behind neighbouring Nova Scotia.

Flaro said Ability New Brunswick reviewed 60 early learning and childcare facilities throughout the province to measure the level of inclusion. Inclusion was one of the pillars included in the Canada-New Brunswick Child Care Agreement.

New Brunswick, she explained, has been able to allocate money to help those facilities. She added that the applications are underway.​

Ability New Brunswick conducted jurisdictional scans on inclusive learning and found that mobility disabilities are often overlooked. Flaro said that, in most cases, few centralized sources exist for people to find the resources that are available. ​

“This is the first time in New Brunswick … where there is a hub for workers, parents, working with children with a mobility disability, with a really close focus on inclusive play for that population, [and] inclusive resources,” she said.​

Flaro said her organization often hears stories about parents who find it difficult to secure placement in daycares and early learning centres, and that having a child with a mobility disability makes the process that much more complicated.

“We’ve had families that have gone to so many daycares to try and find the right space,” she said. “Sometimes they can find accessible indoor spaces, but the child’s not able to use the playground.”

She said critical development happens in those first several years of children’s educational experience, and if they are left out due to physical limitations, it leads to segregation.

“It really is unfortunate when we see this type of segregation that exists, and we know even better than ever that we need to start the dialogue about the resources around true inclusion for children with a mobility disability early,” she said.

You can visit the new portal on Ability New Brunswick’s website.

macro photography of school bus

New Brunswick still needs school bus mechanics

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The union representing school bus mechanics is happy the provincial government has acknowledged a staffing shortage.

School bus repairs have been an ongoing issue in New Brunswick, but CUPE Local 1190 president Jonathan Guimond said he’s thankful Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson recognized the challenges the union has faced.

“Recruitment and retention in the trades are essential for Local 1190,” Guimond said in a statement. “We need qualified workers available to deliver these important and essential services.

The local met recently with representatives of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and other CUPE locals to review resource allocations within the collective agreement aimed at improving efficiency in bus breakdown response and repair operations.

Repair services have been fully restored, but the staffing shortages remain a barrier to restoring the services to 100 per cent.

A press release from the union said a recent five per cent retention and recruitment wage adjustment for mechanics has helped generate interest in recruiting automotive service technicians on the condition they get a truck and transport certification.

But CUPE said it’s still not enough to attract and retain fully certified truck and transport mechanics. The release they’re needed to resolve the shortage of staff qualified to perform safety inspections on buses.

Those workers are also required to support apprentices during the four- to five-year certification process and maintaining daily operations.

“We need the Vehicle Management Agency’s directors to consider additional wage adjustments if we want to restore services to 100 per cent,” Guimond said. “That level of reliability is owed to the families who put their kids on the buses every day.”