Sooke Area

Population

In 2001, 3,800 people lived in the Sooke Area, which includes East Sooke, Westcoast, and inland. There were a total of 100 children aged 0-4, comprising 4.1% of the total population.

EDI Results for the Sooke Area are included in the results for "Sooke/ West Coast".

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Mobility

On average, 19% of Victoria area residents (nearly one in five) changed homes in the year prior to the census. This is higher than both the BC (16.4%) and National (14.3%) mobility averages. In the Sooke Area, 12% of the total population of this neighbourhood changed addresses in the year prior to the census; this mobility is lower than that of the region as a whole.

High levels of mobility may be stressful for families and young children. This may affect the degree to which families know their neighbours, or are familiar with the resources around them. Families in neighbourhoods with high-mobility are less likely to connect with other families for informal support and information.

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Implications

In addition to being socially disruptive, a high level of transience is a huge challenge for community development approaches to child development and to continuity of care for children with special needs. When children reach school age, it becomes a further challenge for educational momentum and continuity. Increasing family residential mobility has been associated with higher levels of behavioural vulnerability in middle childhood. It is reasonable to infer that the high rates of residential transience in inner city neighbourhoods complicate efforts to build social cohesion that impacts children in those areas (Hertzman et al., 2002).

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Childcare

Good quality childcare can positively influence developmental outcomes for young children whether it is provided in the home or in a child care centre.

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Access to Licensed Childcare

Data indicates that there are currently no child care facilities in Sooke Area (2005). Port Renfrew has one preschool and one out of school care facility (2005).

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Lone Parent Families

Close to one in ten families in the Sooke Area neighbourhood are headed by a lone parent. This is lower than the incidence of lone parent families in the Victoria area, where the average percentage of families with children that were headed by a lone parent in 2001 was 16%.

Lone parent families face significant challenges in balancing the demands of raising children while earning a living. Children of lone parent families are more likely to be living in poverty than those from two-parent families. While most children from lone-parent households do well, research has shown that a higher proportion of children with cognitive and behavioural problems come from such families.

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Income

A higher family income level makes the conditions for healthy child development more easily accessible. For example, access to good quality child care, nutritious food, secure housing, and community participation improves as income level rises.

The average annual household income in the Sooke Area is $50,000 and 8.1% of the population of this neighbourhood, nearly one in twelve people, fall below the low income cutoff. The StatsCan Census Dictionary defines the low income cut-off as economic families or unattached individuals who spend 20% more than average on food, shelter and clothing. In 2000, nearly one in every ten families in Victoria was below the low-income cut-off (9%), compared with 13.6% of BC families, and 12.6% of Canadian families.

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Unemployment

Research has shown that neighbourhoods with high levels of unemployment can impact negatively on children's behavioural outcomes. The mean unemployment rate for the Victoria CMA was 6.6%, slightly lower than the overall national rate of 7.4% and the provincial average of 8.5%. The unemployment rate for Sooke Area is 5.7% - 7%, which is slightly lower than the regional rate.

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Education

Higher parental education is positively related to the language development of children. Studies have shown that the education level of the primary caregiver, often the mother, is of particular significance to the child's readiness for school . In Sooke Area, more than one fifth of adults (20.4%) have not completed grade 12. This is consistent with local and provincial averages of 19-20%. Roughly one in seven adults (12.7 - 15.2%) in this neighbourhood have a bachelors' degree or higher.

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Pregnancy & Birth Information

There were 14,517 live births in the study area between 1998 and 2002. In 2001, there were 6 births to women residing in Sooke Area. Complete birth information is not available for Sooke Area.

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