‘This is a huge deal’: Parents with no daycare options among Ontarians impacted by college support staff strike

Ontario colleges at odds with OPSEU over wages, job security

Thousands of full-time support workers walked off the job at colleges across Ontario on Thursday morning, but how is their strike action impacting students directly?

While classes remain unaffected, still running as scheduled, some services have been reduced or suspended.

From college students having to wait to get their degrees or diplomas in hand to parents scrambling to find alternative daycare, here is how some people in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have been impacted by the college support staff strike.

Daycare closures leaving parents with few options

Jonathan Smith sends his two children to Centennial College’s East York childcare centre. Now, he is having to rely on his parents to look after them, after support staff at the school went on strike, shuttering the centre.

“This is a huge deal for parents with kids in daycare,” Smith said. “We rely on daycare when we work full-time. We’re not the main focus of this strike, but we’re being majorly affected and it’s very stressful.”

Smith said when picking up his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter and one-and-a-half-year-old son from daycare on Wednesday, he was told to wait for communication at midnight to find out whether the daycare would be closed the next day due to the strike.

In an earlier letter sent out to parents by Centennial College on Aug. 28 that Smith shared with CTV News, Associate Dean for Child and Family Studies Jaspreet Bal warned about the impending support staff strike, and said that staff at their East York centre would be impacted.

“In the event of a strike, we would not be in a position to keep our childcare centres running, as we would not be able to meet the staff-to-child ratios required of us by the Ministry of Education,” Bal said in the letter. “Therefore, these centres would be temporarily closed effective the first day of the strike and for as long as it lasts.”

Bal added that no fees would be charged to parents during the strike, but financial impacts isn’t what’s worrying Smith.

“Top of mind is the impact of my kids,” he said. “They’re used to their daycare. They miss their teachers, they miss their routine, and trying to put them into another temporary daycare is going to, unfortunately, be kind of traumatic for them to change their day to day.”

Currently, Smith said his parents have been looking after the two toddlers while he and his wife look into temporary daycare options operating out of private homes.

“My parents are retired and I don’t want to put them in that position,” said Smith. “I’m sure if we didn’t have any other option, they would (help). But it’s just not a long-term, workable solution for the kids.”

“We’re in a fortunate situation where we can look to alternatives, but when you work full-time, you can’t just stop working when your childcare is gone.”

Fall convocation postponed to the winter

Sarah Davidson graduated from the Early Childhood Education program at Sheridan College in August and was expecting to walk the stage in cap and gown this fall.

But when she saw an Instagram post on a Sheridan account about the strike, the 20-year-old says she went straight to her emails to see how that would impact her upcoming graduation.

“It was definitely odd not to receive any convocation details about the ceremony, and I just knew something was up,” Davidson said.

In an email sent out by Sheridan College at 6 a.m. Thursday, reviewed by CTV News Toronto, Provost Mary Vaughan explained to students their classes would still be in session during this time, asked for their patience with student services and instructed them to read through an attached FAQ document to see exactly what is being impacted.

That online document confirmed Sheridan has postponed all Fall Convocation ceremonies to Winter 2026.

A spokesperson at Sheridan College told CTV news Toronto they were unable to plan and host a convocation as originally scheduled due to the “key role of support staff in bringing this important event to life.”

“We are committed to celebrating all graduates and ensuring we can host a proper, meaningful ceremony for the nearly 8,000 students in this year’s graduating class,” the emailed statement reads.

Based on Sheridan’s academic calendar, these graduation ceremonies were tentatively scheduled for Oct. 20, the same day that reading week starts.

Now Davidson will have to wait a little longer to receive the early childhood education diploma she worked for over the last two years.

“I was pretty annoyed and just I shock. I was really looking forward to getting my diploma and seeing my name and program and putting it on my desk within the next few weeks,” Davidson said, recounting when she learned of the news Thursday morning.

“I’m glad to have gotten that confirmation but it’s still annoying.”

For its part, Sheridan College says it will keep graduating students updated about the details of their convocation ceremonies.

Have you had your convocation delayed or cancelled? Are you struggling to find alternate childcare due to daycare closures? CTV News wants to hear from you.

Email us at [e-mail] with your name, general location and phone number in case we want to follow up. Your comments may be used in a CTV News story.