Emergency Child Care - Second Expansion of Eligibility - April 29, 2020

Ministry of Education
Early Years and Child Care Division
315 Front Street West, 11th Floor
Toronto ON M5V 3A4

TO: Consolidated Municipal Service Managers and District Social Service Administration Boards (CMSMs and DSSABs), Chiefs of First Nations with Child Care Agreements

FROM: Shannon Fuller, Assistant Deputy Minister. Early Years and Child Care Division

DATE: April 29, 2020

SUBJECT: Emergency Child Care – Second Expansion of Eligibility

Thank you for your ongoing partnership in delivering emergency child care for health care and other frontline workers.

Further to my memo dated April 17, 2020 regarding the expansion of those eligible for emergency child care, the province has further amended the emergency order that defines the list of eligible workers to expand the list to immediately include the following individuals:

• Individuals working in grocery stores and pharmacies;
• Truck drivers (class A and D);
• Individuals who are supporting food processing and/or the food supply chain;
• Those who provide intervenor and/or interpreting services for people who are Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and deafblind, as well as people who have a combined loss of both hearing and vision;
• Individuals who work in retirement homes;
• Auxiliary workers in health care settings including cooks and cleaning staff in hospitals and long-term care homes;
• Provincial Offences officers, Provincial Court staff;
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) emergency 
• personnel;
• Members of the Canadian Armed Forces or the Department of National Defence who are working in Ontario and whose child care is provided by a Military Family Resource Centre; and
• Additional select community safety and correctional services personnel, including animal welfare inspectors.

Note that some updates and clarifications have also been made to the existing eligible workers within the community safety and corrections sectors. The full list of eligible workers can be viewed at the following link: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/200051

The province has received many requests to include additional workers on the list of those eligible for emergency child care. Additions to the list have been considered using a phased and measured approach, based on the status of the outbreak and the needs and capacity of our communities.

Please continue to determine your emergency child care planning locally, in accordance with ministry requirements and the recommendations of your local Medical Officer of Health. The ministry continues to depend on the authority and discretion that service system managers hold in order to make decisions that best support the early years and child care sector in our communities. Should you wish to make changes to your current emergency child care plan, please revise and resubmit your plan to the ministry.

The ministry continues to put the health and safety of Ontario’s children and families at the forefront and to base its decisions on advice from Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health and other health experts.

Thank you,

Shannon Fuller