In the month since a car crashed through the front window of a Richmond Hill daycare, killing a toddler and injuring several others, childcare facilities are now taking precautions amid new rules from the provincial government.
In the days following the crash, Education Minister Paul Calandra sent a memo was sent to daycare facilities, directing operators to block all parking spaces near daycare entryways, playgrounds, windows, and exterior walls of classrooms during hours of operation until additional safety measures are implemented.
A 70-year-old man was charged after a vehicle drove from the parking lot into the window of one of the learning spaces of the First Roots Early Education Academy in Richmond Hill. An 18-month-old boy was killed and seven children, along with three staff members, were taken to the hospital with injuries.
Bollards and pylons are now taking up daycare parking spaces, but as budgets are getting increasingly tight, uncertainty remains over who will be paying for the safety precautions.
“That is very unclear right now and in my opinion, it has to be the Ministry of Education, the provincial government, because centres like ours cannot afford the added expense of up to $50,000 to be putting in new safety measures,” said Amy O’Neil, Executive Director of the Treetop Children’s Centre in Toronto.
Alessandro Fabiano, co-owner of Bollard Bros tells CityNews several daycares have reached out seeking his services but are left in limbo over a lack of clarity regarding where the funds are coming from.
“There’s still a lot of things up in the air, but there’s nothing really guaranteed to funding, or what kind of money they’re going to be getting for this. So, a lot of us are hesitant because if they spend $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, they’re not going to know if they’re going to be getting that money back and it might not even be in the budget for this year,” shared Fabiano.
First Roots has now reopened at half capacity and has bollards in place. The centre installed them through donations from community members.
O’Neil said the directive from the province has not been legislated yet, so right now a lot is being left up to the discretion of the childcare providers. However, once it is, she said a consultation with the ministry is necessary.
“They need to be talking to us. They need to be talking to operators, people who are on the ground, who know their families, who know their children, who know their communities, and they also need to think about funding, because without the dedicated funding, we won’t be able to meet the legislative requirements,” O’Neil said.
CityNews contacted the Ministry of Education for comment, but no response has been sent.
