New Ontario safety rules welcome after crash, not blanket solution: daycare coalition
Global News
The province promised changes Thursday evening after a vehicle drove into a Richmond Hill daycare at pickup time on Wednesday, killing a toddler and several injured.
Ontario’s proposed measures to boost daycare safety are welcome, but the province should be cautious not to impose a “blanket” solution given the diversity of programs in the province, a coalition that represents hundreds of child-care centres said Friday.
The province promised changes Thursday evening after a vehicle drove into a Richmond Hill daycare at pickup time on Wednesday, killing a toddler and leaving six young children and three adults injured.
York Regional Police said Friday that two of the injured kids were still in critical condition. A 70-year-old man is facing dangerous driving charges, and police have said they do not believe it was a deliberate act.
Education Minister Paul Calandra said the government is looking into legislative changes to restrict parking near windows and exterior walls of child-care facilities, and to require higher curbs and bollards in some areas.
Carolyn Ferns, the policy co-ordinator for the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, said the tragedy left the community heartbroken and providers have already been thinking about how to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
“I think it’s good to see that the government is also thinking about that,” she said in an interview Friday.
“Hopefully this is a time where, you know, everybody — the government, child care operators — will be reflecting on this and thinking … what can we do now to help make sure children are safe?”
Ferns said different daycares might need different safety measures. For some, it might a good idea to remove parking spaces outside their windows, while for others, a higher-elevation curb or the installation of bollards could be enough.
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