Two months after Josclyn Johnson’s 18-month-old daughter started day care, the center announced it was leaving the national $10-a-day program, making Johnson worried about how her family would cover the new monthly fee of $2,310.

“We’re kind of forced to stay in daycare right now,” Johnson said. She has not yet been able to find a place in another daycare offering reduced fees.

“I work contract to contract, so even though it seems like a waste to send him to daycare right now, when technically I could do the care here, if I want to continue to progress in my career… “, she interrupted herself. , choking.

“Today it’s pretty desperate.”

Sunnyside Day Care, which has two locations in west Toronto, represents two of 14 centers in the city that have given notice to leave the $10-a-day system since the province announced a new funding formula this summer long awaited. The national program subsidizes tuition fees for parents, and in Ontario they have so far been cut at least in half, with the aim of reaching $10 a day by 2026.

Parents like Johnson pay $928 a month for a place in the toddler room.

“In conclusion, hope remains, and perhaps (the program) will continue to evolve and return in a new and improved way,” the daycare wrote in a Nov. 1 letter to parents announcing its withdrawal from January 1.

The new fees would be up to $2,565 per month for an infant space, the center said, based on its pre-pandemic rates, with “annual increases delayed relative to inflation.” taken into account.

But Sunnyside’s parents are furious and don’t take the news gently. They sent a letter to the daycare, demanding a meeting and an explanation of why they feel they cannot remain in the $10-a-day program.

“This abrupt change, coupled with the tone of your communication, has conveyed a lack of empathy and transparency that is far from what we expect from a daycare so integrated into this community,” dozens of parents wrote.

“We understand that there are challenges to participating (in the program), but such a drastic decision deserves an open and thorough dialogue with the families whose lives will be affected. Instead, your communication was blatantly vague and unacceptably definitive.”

The parents didn’t stop there. The daycare’s management structure has always been unclear, they said, which is why they pulled the company’s profile reports from a provincial database.

Two people – Holton Hunter and John McCallum – are listed as active directors of Sunnyside. They are also listed as active directors of Curious Caterpillars, both of whose locations are also leaving the $10-a-day program.

Curious Caterpillars, care of John McCallum, is listed as registered for two other centers leaving the program – Alphabet Station and Alphabet Academy.

Teddy Bear Academy, which is also leaving the program, is listed as registered by MVG Ventures, care of Holton Hunter. An MVG Ventures website describes it as a venture capital firm.

In total, Hunter and/or McCallum appear to be connected to half of the centers in Toronto, coming out of the system at $10 a day.

Hunter and McCallum declined to comment on daycares except Sunnyside.

“We hope that future changes to the program ($10 per day) will evolve or be replaced with something that will allow for increased sustainability, better access and more choice in child care for all parents,” they said. -they wrote in a joint statement. Sunnyside Directors.

Education Minister Jill Dunlop said the apparent links between exiting child care centers was news to her, as provincial data shows 96 per cent of for-profit operators have one or two locations and are primarily women-owned small businesses.

Ontario has been lobbying the federal government for more money, saying the province has so far used federal funding to reduce fees for parents, but there is little money left to help operators to add more places or facilitate the recruitment and retention of early childhood educators. crunch.

Dunlop said she sympathized with families in this situation, but did not indicate there were immediate solutions that could help them.

“I also used daycare at one point in my life with my children, so I can imagine how upset they would be,” she said.

“So my message to parents would be this: I will continue to fight for affordable child care in this province for all families. I will continue to call on the federal government to increase funding for its flagship program.

New Democrat Bhutila Karpoche spoke with Sunnyside parents and said people make family budget and family planning decisions by paying a $10 a day fee.

“It surprised the parents,” she said. “In terms of the family budget, in terms of commitments, in terms of household expenses and things like that, it has a huge, huge impact.”

The province does not track the number of centers that have opted out of the $10-a-day program.

York Region said one operator was withdrawing effective January 1. Peel Region said one operator withdrew in August before the new funding formula was announced. The City of Ottawa said no operator had given notice of removal.

A group of for-profit operators in the province staged phased closures this fall to protest the new funding formula, fearing it would lead to a lack of flexibility and autonomy.

The department is working with for-profit child care providers to ensure they have accurate information about the types of costs that will be covered and the amount of operating funding they will receive, which appears to have eased concerns, Dunlop said.

“I think the more we do this, as daycares ask these questions and we can answer honestly and give them the details, I see things calm down,” she said.

In Toronto as of last month, there were 233 for-profit centers in the $10-a-day system, or 72 percent of the city’s total for-profit centers, according to a city staff report. On the public and nonprofit side, 690 centers participated, or about 92 percent of them.

Jacqueline Stein, who was in a similar situation to Johnson when her son’s daycare left the program earlier this year, said she doesn’t understand why some for-profit daycares are leaving while so many others can stay.

“A lot of people are trying to make this work and understand, understand the value that this has for families, and especially understand the values ​​that this has for working women and mothers,” she said .

“In general, it’s not the man who has to stop working most of the time… This has important implications, especially for women, when daycares decide to do this.”

Sarah Gaby-Trotz, another Sunnyside mother, managed to find a place for her daughter in another center – no easy feat. But she’s still upset about what happened at Sunnyside after only starting there in September, and is emotional about the impact on her family and so many others.

“I felt hurt and angry and really sad, because the teachers at the daycare are amazing…my daughter is a little shy, and the transition was harder for her, and they worked really hard to really get her ‘integrate into the class and allow him to feel comfortable,’ she said.

“She was just starting to walk up to daycare like it was her own… and saying all the names of the kids in her class and she was really starting to come out of her shell and like it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 20, 2024.