Emergency Care for Children of Health Care and Frontline Workers
April 6, 2020
Legislation
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Employment
Bottom Line
The provincial government of Ontario has amended the Order Under Subsection 7.0.2(4) of the Act – Closure of Establishments (the “Order”) to permit certain child care centres to reopen to provide emergency child care services to the children of health care and frontline workers.
Currently, these child care centres cannot have more than 50 people in one location at a time, which includes children, employees, parents and guardians.
Eligible Employees
The Order specifies groups of workers who are eligible for emergency child care, including:
- regulated and unregulated health care providers;
- police officers as defined in the Police Services Act (the “PSA”) and members of police forces other than police officers as defined in the PSA;
- firefighters and individuals providing fire protection services employed in fire departments as defined in section 1 of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997;
- paramedics as defined in the Ambulance Act;
- coroners as defined in the Coroners Act;
- workers in correctional institutions and individuals employed in the Institutional Services Division of the Ministry of the Solicitor General, including a person employed in a correctional institution as defined in the Ministry of Correctional Services Act (the “MCSA”);
- employees of Compass Group Canada Ltd. who works at or provides services in relation to the Cook Chill Food Production Centre;
- individuals employed in the Ministry of the Solicitor General who perform electronic monitoring services, CPIC searches and/or prepare community supervision orders for the Institutional Services Division or Community Services Division;
- animal welfare inspectors appointed pursuant to the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019;
- individuals employed in the operation of a place of secure custody designated under the Young Offenders Act (Canada), whether in accordance with section 88 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (Canada) or otherwise, or a place of secure temporary detention as defined in the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017;
- individuals employed in the Direct Operated Facilities Branch of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services;
- individuals who perform work that is essential to the delivery of core services in a municipality or First Nation community, as determined by that municipality or First Nation;
- individuals who perform work of a critical nature in their service area or community, as determined by the Minister of Education or his delegate in consultation with the relevant service system manager or First Nation;
- an individual who works in a child care centre authorized to operate under the Order.
Existing Child Care Centres
The provincial government is maintaining a list of emergency child care centres, which can be accessed here. Communities throughout Ontario that have already reopened emergency child care centres include:
- Oshawa
- Toronto
- Durham
- Simcoe
- Niagara
- Halton
- Hamilton
- Waterloo
- Peterborough
- Windsor
- Cornwall
- London
- Timiskaming
- Parry Sound
Need more information?
For more information regarding workplace management during the COVID-19 outbreak, contact your regular lawyer at the firm.
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