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[Thread] Tonight @RegionWaterloo Council will vote on closing 5 child care centres. At least 30 local parents and ECEs, along with several national child care experts are set to speak tonight - all trying to convince Council to #SaveWaterlooRegionChildrensCentres.
![[Thread] Tonight @RegionWaterloo Council will vote on closing 5 child care centres. At least 30 local parents and ECEs, along with several national child care experts are set to speak tonight - all trying to convince Council to #SaveWaterlooRegionChildrensCentres.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoQj22WXMAMHAKH.jpg "[Thread] Tonight @RegionWaterloo Council will vote on closing 5 child care centres. At least 30 local parents and ECEs, along with several national child care experts are set to speak tonight - all trying to convince Council to #SaveWaterlooRegionChildrensCentres.")
At a public input session two weeks ago, nearly 50 folks spoke about the importance of keeping these public child care programs open. Not 
one speaker advocated for closure.
one speaker advocated for closure.
Parents tearfully explained what the centres mean to them. Others carefully pulled apart the report that recommends closure. They talked about the economy, women’s jobs, #decentwork, children’s rights. Advocates backed up the parents and urged Council to listen.
It seems unthinkable to so many of us that this could even be considered, especially the midst of the pandemic. These public programs were among the first in Ontario to provide emergency child care to essential workers, over a month before any other local programs re-opened.
Given all the fresh understanding about the #Shecession and the importance of child care to drive our social and economic recovery, it seems like dinosaur thinking to close down 5 local child care centres, 260 spaces, and put more than 60 ECEs out of their jobs.
Claims of potential savings from the closures just don’t hold up. And there is no plan to maintain the programs under new operation. These centres will simply shutter and purpose-built child care facilities and the amazing children’s programs that they house will just be gone.
With a new federal plan started, new federal funding just a few months away, to close child care centres now would be a tragic mistake, one that will rob families of needed services and hamper local economic recovery.
2,300+ people have signed a petition against closure: http://childcareontario.org/waterloo
Here are a few important people who can’t speak tonight but want everyone to know how important the centres are to them. Families have been sending in these photos all week.
The real question tonight is what kind of leader does Waterloo want to be? Families have been clear, but only @Redman4Region @EClarkeYW @tomjgalloway14 @Michaelharrispc @DaveJaworsky @HellieJow @karlkiefer52 @Kathryn_McGarry @Sandy_Shantz @berryonline and colleagues can decide.
