GETTING STARTED

Helping children, youth, and newcomers to get a good start in life, work, adulthood, and our community makes a lasting difference.

GETTING STARTED

Getting Started

Thriving futures: Youth in focus

For more than 60 years, BGC South Vancouver Island (BGCSVI) has supported children and youth to foster a sense of belonging and connection from Sooke to Central Saanich. 

Programs such as the Westshore’s FIG (female-identifying group for middle years 11-15), Baby Steps (for youth parents with infants eight weeks to one year old), and Central Saanich’s CSAN (a cooking program/community kitchen for youth) are a few ways the Victoria Foundation’s grant “ensures that we are responding upstream as best we can,” shares BGCSVI Executive Director Dalyce Dixon. “We want to catch youth disengaging from their peers and school as early as possible to connect them to their community — it’s a vital sign of the community’s health when youth can be supported to reach their greatest potential close to home.” 

BGCSVI’s Community Youth Intervention Program (CYIP) also provides a range of resources, including one-to-one outreach and transportation, which youth identified as a key barrier to accessing services. Indicators a youth might benefit from support include being more withdrawn or anxious, attendance dropping, or less connection to a prior social group. When there is no one to check in on youth, “BGC’s CYIP outreach workers are there.”  

SPONSORED BY
Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce

Vital signs citizen survey grade

C

Last year's grade was C

Getting Started

Vital signs citizen survey grade

C
Sustainable Development Targets

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TARGETS

NET MIGRATION

Total net migration in Greater Victoria between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 was 9,160 people.

0% 0% 0%
other countries 72%
within BC 20%
other provinces 8%

Lower than the previous year (10,611), with larger shares coming from other countries (72% vs 56%) and within BC (20% vs 11%) and a smaller share from other provinces (8% vs 34%) compared to 2021/22.

In 2022/23, 467 young people, aged 20-34 years, came to Greater Victoria from other provinces, down from 1,721 the year before, and 796 young people came here from other parts of BC, on par with 2021/22. 

SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA

CHILD VULNERABILITY

From 2019 to 2022 (Wave 8) in South Vancouver Island

31%OF KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN WERE VULNERABLE on one or more scales of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) compared to 33% for BC

47%CHILDREN WERE ON TRACK FOR DEVELOPMENT

22%IN FLUX

OVERALL CHILD VULNERABILITY RATE HAS INCREASED STEADILY from 24% in 2007-2009 (Wave 3)

THE FIVE EDI SCALES ARE:

  • Social competence
  • Emotional maturity
  • Physical health and wellbeing
  • Language and cognitive development
  • Communication skills and general knowledge

SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA HUMAN EARLY LEARNING PARTNERSHIP

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TARGETS

4.2: Ensure equal access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education

8.6: Reduce share of youth not in employment, education, or training

16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and violence against children

CHILDREN & YOUTH IN CARE

In South Vancouver Island, April 1, 2022 — March 31, 2023

207CHILDREN AND YOUTH ADMITTED INTO CARE
44% Indigenous children and youth.

Provincially, 55% of admissions were Indigenous children and youth.

39YOUTH AGED OUT OF CARE (i.e., turned 19 years old)
54% Indigenous youth.

24%CHILDREN AND YOUTH LEFT CARE FOR PERMANENCY (i.e., family reunification, adoption, or permanent transfer of custody) compared to 17% of their BC counterparts.

29%INDIGENOUS CHILDREN AND YOUTH LEFT CARE FOR PERMANENCY compared to 21% of non-Indigenous kids in care.

26 MONTHS MEDIAN TIME CHILDREN AND YOUTH SPENT IN CARE BEFORE DISCHARGE TO PERMANENCY compared to the BC median of 24 months.

SOURCE: BC MINISTRY OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

Unemployment rate for youth, aged 15-24 years, in 2023

0%

GREATER VICTORIA similar to 2022

0%

BRITISH COLUMBIA

0%

CANADA

% Population (15-24 years) who are unemployed

20192020202120222023
Canada10.720.113.510.110.8
BC9.218.812.38.89.3
Victoria CMA6.514.37.87.57.3

SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA 

CHILDCARE SPACES

Across the region’s 13 municipalities, as of January 1, 2024
14,789 TOTAL LICENSED CHILDCARE SPACES including group childcare (under 36 months, 30 months to school entry, and kindergarten to age 12), preschool, multi-age, in-home multi-age, and family childcare.

Highlands (57) had the lowest number of licensed childcare spaces and Saanich (4,630) had the highest. Sooke (413) and Sidney (410) had a similar number of spaces, despite Sooke having a higher number and proportion of children, aged 0-14 years, than Sidney (16% and 9% respectively), based on the 2021 Census.

SOURCE: VICTORIA CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL AND STATISTICS CANADA