Ontario parents race to find child care ahead of planned walkout by education workers

Some families in Ontario are scrambling to make alternative child-care plans after several boards said they would close schools Friday in response to a planned walkout by education workers.

The Toronto District School Board -- Canada's largest school district -- said late Monday it has "no option" but to close for in-person learning because it can't guarantee school safety and cleanliness without the services of those employees, including librarians, custodians and early childhood educators.

• READ MORE: Will my child's school close on Friday? This is how GTA boards are responding to a possible protest

Riaz Ahmed, the father of a first grader and a junior kindergartner in the board, said the planned school closures have complicated his plans for Friday because both he and his wife are working parents.

"It is going to be tricky," he said outside Thorncliffe Park Public School on Tuesday morning, after dropping off his children. "We are still planning, and we are still trying to figure out a way."

The Ontario government introduced legislation Monday to impose a contract on education workers with the Canadian Union of Public Employees and avert a strike set to start Friday.

CUPE said its 55,000 education worker members will walk off the job in a provincewide protest Friday despite the legislation, which will use the notwithstanding clause to keep the eventual law in force in the event of any constitutional challenges.

Danyaal Raza said he and his partner were still working out child-care plans for his six-year-old, who attends Grade 1 at a TDSB school, as they look to either adjust work schedules or ask grandparents for support.

He said the walkout was "no doubt going to cause some short-term disruption and short-term frustration," but he said he supports the education workers' right to strike and negotiate a deal.

"I was quite actually shocked to see that not only was that not going to happen, but that the provincial government was using the notwithstanding clause to override that right," said Raza, a family physician.

TDSB said child-care centres operated by the board and third parties inside schools can remain open on Friday, though that decision is up to individual operators. Some have said they will close.

Catholic boards in Toronto and Hamilton have said they will close schools, while Catholic boards in Halton and Ottawa, as well as the Thames Valley District School Board in London, Ont., said they would move to remote learning.

Traci Clarke, a parent in the Ottawa Catholic School Board, said she is fully prepared to keep her 19-year-old son, who is on the autism spectrum, home from school even though it would present challenges to her.

Her son requires constant attention from educational assistants in his special education program, who are able to assist with his learning and social needs. They've been the difference in his high school experience, she said.

"If it wasn't for educational assistants, he would have never made it through high school. He would never make it through the school system period," Clarke said.

In the long haul, Clarke said she hopes job action proves beneficial for CUPE members and the education system.

"Educational assistants...they're burning out. There's not enough of them when we have so many students in needs," said Clarke.

Syed Zadai, the father of a Grade 5 student in Toronto, pointed fingers at the provincial government for the school closures.

"They have the right to do that," he said of the planned walkout. "And (the) government should listen to them instead of passing laws (against them)."

"I support the school staff," he said, adding the government "must negotiate" a fair deal with education workers.

The government had been offering raises of two per cent a year for workers making less than $40,000 and 1.25 per cent for all others, but Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the new, imposed four-year deal would give 2.5 per cent annual raises to workers making less than $43,000 and 1.5 per cent raises for all others.

CUPE has said its workers, which make on average $39,000 a year, are generally the lowest paid in schools and it has been seeking annual salary increases of 11.7 per cent.

More than 96 per cent of CUPE's education worker members voted in favour of a strike.

Meanwhile, some boards across the province are remaining open or taking a wait-and-see approach.

Halton District School Board, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board and Upper Grand District School Board in Guelph, Ont., have said schools will stay open.

Peel's public and Catholic school boards have not detailed plans, saying they remained "hopeful that a resolution" could be reached "at the current negotiation impasse." York's public and Catholic boards also did not say whether schools would be open.

Public boards in Ottawa and Waterloo Region have said planned job action would not affect their operations since employees were represented by different unions.

- With files from Cindy Tran in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2022.