City of Ottawa will open 3 child-care centres for essential workers during COVID-19 pandemic

OTTAWA — The City of Ottawa has received the green light to open three municipal child-care centres for essential and critical service workers.

The Ontario Government announced its plan to support essential workers during the COVID-19 outbreak involved emergency licenced child-care services for frontline workers.

Mayor Jim Watson told reporters the three centres will open on Monday, April 13, and operate Monday to Friday.  The child care will be free for essential workers.

The three facilities will be located at:

The centres will be staffed by City of Ottawa Registered Early Childhood Educators.

The City of Ottawa says each centre will accommodate between 10 and 12 children, aged between 18 months and five years old.

Families can apply on the City of Ottawa’s website.

In a memo to Council, Community and Social Services Department General Manager Donna Gray said “due to limited capacity, the city will prioritize child-care spaces for health care workers on a first come first served basis.”

Gray adds the City of Ottawa will continue to work with licensed child-care service providers in the community who have demonstrated interest in offering emergency child-care for the community.