Ontario Provides Emergency Child Care for Critical Frontline Workers

As Ontario schools move to remote learning due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 transmission across communities and the increasing risks posed to the public by COVID-19 variants, frontline workers will have access to emergency child care for their school-aged children, beginning Monday, April 19, 2021.

If you are a parent with a school-aged child or children and on the eligibility list identified below looking to access an emergency child care program, please contact your local service system manager for information on availability, program locations and registration.

List of Those Eligible for Emergency Child Care:

• Health care workers, including but not limited to doctors, nurses, health care providers and those who work in long-term care and retirement homes, as well as individuals who manufacture or distribute medical/pharmaceutical supplies
• Individuals performing work in relation to the administration, distribution or manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines
• Child care workers, including those staffing the emergency child care programs
• Grocery store and pharmacy workers
• Public safety (police, fire, paramedics, provincial inspection/enforcement), justice/court and correctional system workers
• Frontline staff in Children’s Aid Societies and residential services
• Individuals working in developmental services, violence against women services, victims’ services, anti-human trafficking and those engaged in interpreting or intervenor services for persons who are deaf or deaf-blind
• Individuals working in a homeless shelter or providing services to homeless persons
• Food safety inspectors and individuals working in the processing, manufacturing or distribution of food and beverages
• OPS staff employed in Radiation Protection Services
• OPS staff performing critical tasks related to environmental monitoring, reporting and laboratory services
• Certain federal employees, including RCMP, Canada Border Services, Canadian Armed Forces and Canada Post
• Power workers
• Non-municipal water and wastewater workers
• Workers involved in the collecting, transporting, storing, processing, disposing or recycling of any type of waste.
• Education staff who are required to attend schools to provide in-person instruction and support to students with special education needs who cannot be accommodated through remote learning
• Employees of a hotel or motel that is acting as an isolation centre, health care centre, vaccine clinic or housing essential workers.
• Truck drivers and transit workers
• Construction workers
• Any individual whose child was registered in an emergency child care program delivered by a Consolidated Municipal Service Manager or District Social Service Administration Board during the time period beginning on April 6, 2021 and ending on April 16, 2021.

The complete eligibility list can also be found at the following link (please refer to Schedule 5). This list will be updated by Friday, April 16, 2021.

Read the complete news release: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/61162/ontario-provides-emergency-child-care-for-critical-frontline-workers