How to check a Port Coquitlam daycare's licence before you tour

You can look up any licensed childcare centre in Port Coquitlam before you book a visit. Two public sources hold the details, both free, and neither one asks you to contact the centre first. Each one holds something the other leaves out, which is the part most parents are never told.

Two public lists, and what each one is for

Fraser Health licenses child care in Port Coquitlam under British Columbia's Community Care and Assisted Living Act. It publishes a list of every licensed facility, split by area. Port Coquitlam sits in the Fraser North list, alongside Coquitlam, Port Moody, Burnaby, New Westminster, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows and Anmore.

The Province publishes something different. Its Child Care Map data covers ministry-funded licensed child care across British Columbia, listed by city, address, licence type and services offered. The Province updates that data daily.

Each one answers a different question.

Question you have	Fraser Health list	Province's Child Care Map data
Is this centre licensed?	Yes	Yes
How many children may it have on site?	Yes	No
How many spaces in each care type?	Yes	No
What ages does it say it takes?	No	Yes, when the operator filled it in
Has it reported an open space?	No	Yes, with the date reported
How often is it refreshed?	About every 4 months	Daily

The capacity gap is the one that catches people out. If you want to know how many children a centre may have on site at one time, the Fraser Health list is the only place that publishes it. No search tool built on the provincial data can tell you, including ours.

The faster way to look a centre up

The Fraser Health list is a PDF of 88 pages. Reading it by hand works, and for one centre it is fine. For a shortlist of six it is slow.

We built two tools on the Province's Child Care Map data to make that part quicker. Both are free and neither asks for your email.

Our licensed childcare finder searches all 396 licensed facilities in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Anmore by name, street or postal code. You can filter by city, by age group, and by whether the operator has reported an open space, then print the result or save it as a PDF to take with you.

Our childcare directory gives each of those facilities its own page, with the address and phone number on file, the licence type, and the licensed facilities nearest to it with the real distance to each. Port Coquitlam alone has 106 of them.

Two honest limits, both worth knowing before you rely on either tool.

The first is the capacity gap above. We cannot show you a licensed capacity, because the provincial data does not contain one.

The second is that most of the provincial record is filled in by each operator about its own facility, and most operators leave parts of it blank. Of the 396 records in the copy we last read on 28 August 2026, only 47 list any age group and only 38 list any hours. A blank field records one thing only: that nobody filled it in. The centre may well offer it, so treat a blank as a question to ask. Our facility pages say plainly which parts of a record are empty and what to ask on the phone instead, because that is more use to you than a row of blanks.

You can also read the provincial data at its own source, on the Province's Child Care Map. That map remains the official source, and we are independent of it. We rebuilt it for this area because the map is awkward on a phone and prints badly.

What the Fraser Health list tells you

For each facility the list gives the name, the manager, a phone number, the street address, the maximum number of children allowed on site at one time, and every care type the facility is licensed to offer with the number of spaces in each. That last line is the one that tells you how the days are organised.

The list carries the date it was printed on every page. Read that date. The version we used here was printed 3 July 2026, and the list states it is updated approximately every four months, so a copy you saved last year may no longer be right.

That matters more than it sounds. When we re-checked this post in August 2026, the address Fraser Health publishes for the list had changed, and the old address was still serving a copy printed in June 2024. One nearby centre had also moved and its capacity had changed. Download a fresh copy rather than trusting a saved one, or a number quoted on any website, including this one.

What our own entry says

Here is our record, so you can see how a row is read. As of the list printed on 3 July 2026:

Field	Our entry
Maximum capacity at one time	24
Group Child Care, 30 months to school age	8 spaces
Multi-Age Child Care	16 spaces

Twenty-four is a small centre. Two other licensed centres sit within a short walk on the same street, and one of them is licensed for 73 children while the other is licensed for 20. Both numbers come straight from the Fraser Health list, and we quote them here only to show how a row is read. Some families want a bigger centre, with more children the same age and more staff on site when someone is off sick. That is a real difference, and it is a fair reason to choose somewhere else.

The care type matters more than the total, because each type carries its own group size limit set by regulation. A licence for 16 multi-age spaces means two groups of eight, because a multi-age group may hold at most eight children.

What to do if a centre is not on the list

Occasionally a family cannot find a centre they have been recommended. There are a few ordinary explanations and one that matters.

The ordinary ones first. The list is a snapshot and it is reprinted roughly every four months, so a centre licensed since the last print will not be in your copy. Names on the list are the registered business name rather than the name on the sign, and the two are often different. And a centre in Coquitlam or Port Moody sits in the same Fraser North list, but a centre in Surrey or Langley is in Fraser South, so searching the wrong document finds nothing.

The one that matters is that the facility may not be licensed. British Columbia has more than one kind of child care, and licence-not-required care is legal. Providers in that category are not inspected by a health authority and do not have to meet the rules on staffing, ratios, space, records and programming that licensed facilities do. An unregistered licence-not-required provider may care for only two children not related to them, or one sibling group.

That is a choice a family is entitled to make with the facts in front of them. The problem is only when a centre is described as licensed and is not, so ask the operator directly and expect a straight answer.

What the list cannot tell you, and who can

A licence tells you the outer limits a centre operates inside. It does not tell you how the centre actually runs, and the gap between those two things is most of what you are trying to judge.

Four questions close the gap, and none of them are answerable from a document.

How many groups run each day, and who is with each one? A licence for twenty-four children could be three groups of eight or two groups plus a small one. The answer changes how many other children your child spends the day beside.

What happens when an educator is off sick? Every centre has an answer. The useful part is whether it is a named substitute the children already know, or a scramble. Ratios have to be met either way, so the question is not whether they cover it, but who covers it.

When was the last licensing inspection and what came out of it? Ask the operator before you look it up. How a centre talks about its own inspection history tells you at least as much as the report does.

What does the day actually look like at half past ten in the morning? Not the timetable. The room.

Where the inspection reports live

Fraser Health publishes routine inspection reports and summaries of substantiated complaint investigations in a searchable database, reached from its child care inspections page.

Two things are worth knowing before you read one.

The first is that Fraser Health itself asks parents not to judge a centre on the reports alone, and suggests visiting the facility and speaking with the licensing officer. A report is a snapshot of one visit against a checklist.

The second is that the areas an officer checks are broad: care and supervision, hygiene and communicable disease control, licensing, medication, nutrition and food services, physical facility and equipment, policies and procedures, program, records and reporting, and staffing. An item raised under records and reporting is a different kind of finding from one raised under care and supervision, and the report will tell you which it was. For what each of those categories actually covers, see what an inspection report shows.

Frequently asked questions

Which health authority licenses daycares on Confederation Drive?

Fraser Health, under British Columbia's Community Care and Assisted Living Act. Anyone caring for three or more children not related to them by blood or marriage needs a Community Care Facility Licence. Fraser Health licensing officers inspect licensed facilities in this area and investigate complaints made about them.

How do I check whether a daycare is licensed?

Fraser Health publishes a public list of every licensed child care facility, split into Fraser North, Fraser South and Fraser East. Port Coquitlam is in the Fraser North list. Find the centre by name or street. If a centre is not on the list, ask the operator to explain why before you go further.

Which list should I use to check a daycare licence?

Use both, because they hold different things. The Fraser Health list is the only one that gives the licensed capacity and the number of spaces in each care type, and it is updated about every four months. The Province's Child Care Map data is updated daily and is better for checking that a facility exists and what it offers now.

Does your childcare finder show how many children a centre is licensed for?

No. Our finder is built from the Province's Child Care Map data, which records the licence type and the services offered but carries no capacity figure. For the maximum number of children a centre may have on site, you need the Fraser Health list. We link it on every page of our directory.

What is the difference between licensed and licence-not-required child care?

Licensed facilities are inspected by a health authority and must meet set rules on staffing, ratios, space, records and programming. Licence-not-required providers are not inspected and do not have to meet those standards. An unregistered licence-not-required provider may care for only two children not related to them, or one sibling group. For the full breakdown of both categories, see the difference between licensed and licence-not-required care.

What does "maximum capacity" mean on the Fraser Health list?

It is the largest number of children allowed on site at one time. Open spaces and group sizes are separate figures, counted separately. A centre can be licensed for 24 children and still run them as three separate groups in three separate rooms.

How many children are allowed in one group?

It depends on the care type. Under the Child Care Licensing Regulation, Group Child Care for 30 months to school age allows a maximum of 25 in a group, with no more than 2 children under 36 months. Group Child Care under 36 months allows 12. Multi-Age Child Care allows 8.

How many educators have to be with each group?

The regulation sets a minimum by care type and group size. In Multi-Age Child Care, one educator may have up to 8 children. In Group Child Care for 30 months to school age, one educator may have up to 8, one educator and one assistant up to 16, and one educator and two assistants up to 25.

How many children is La Vie Est Belle licensed for?

Twenty-four at one time, as of the Fraser Health list printed 3 July 2026. That is split into 8 Group Child Care spaces for 30 months to school age and 16 Multi-Age Child Care spaces. Because a multi-age group may hold at most 8 children, those 16 spaces are two separate groups.

Can I see a daycare's inspection reports?

Yes. Fraser Health puts routine inspection reports and summaries of substantiated complaint investigations online, in a searchable database linked from its child care inspections page. Fraser Health also asks parents not to judge a centre on the reports alone, and suggests visiting and speaking to the licensing officer.

What does a licensing officer check during an inspection?

Fraser Health lists ten areas: care and supervision, hygiene and communicable disease control, licensing, medication, nutrition and food services, physical facility and equipment, policies and procedures, program, records and reporting, and staffing. The officer also completes a risk assessment that rates the facility low, moderate or high risk.

How current is the Fraser Health list?

Each version carries the date it was printed, and the list itself says it is updated approximately every four months. Read the printed date on the copy you download rather than trusting a number quoted on any website, including this one. Capacities and care types change when a licence changes.

What should I ask on a tour that the list cannot tell me?

Ask how many groups run each day and who is with each group, ask when the last licensing inspection was and what came out of it, and ask what happens when an educator is away sick. The list tells you how big a centre is and what it may offer. These three answers tell you how it runs.

Before you visit

Look the centre up first, then tour. It takes about five minutes and it changes the questions you ask once you are standing in the room. Every source used on this page is linked at the bottom.

We are at 1103 Confederation Drive, in the Citadel neighbourhood. You can read about our programs and the centre itself here, and we are glad to walk through our own licence with you in person. Bring your little one along when you come for a tour.