Parents with young children at child-care centres in the downtown core have been advised to keep their kids at home on the days immediately before and after the G20 summit in June.
At a meeting at the Downtown Montessori at 200 Front St. W. Thursday night, parents were told to avoid bringing their children to the area on Friday, June 25, and Monday, June 28, because security for the two-day visit of foreign dignitaries is expected to shut down the area throughout the weekend.
“We are concerned. I’m a parent myself, and just trying to get children through the crowds we’re expecting is not something I’d want to do,” said Helen Dixon, a police constable with the G8/G20 Summit Planning Team.
More than 150 families have children in the three child-care centres closest to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where the summit will be held. All three are run by Downtown Montessori, and together they employ more than 60 staff.
The centre at 200 Front St. W. will be inside the security fence. There are 11 centres in the outer security zone, which will extend from Queen Street West to Queen’s Quay, and from Spadina Avenue to Yonge Street. Constable Dixon acknowledged that it will be extremely difficult for parents to reach their centres as the summit nears.
“We know that there will be protests and that they’ll start during the week,” she said. “We have suggested that people keep their kids at alternative locations, if possible.”
The security fence is scheduled to close at the end of day Friday, but Constable Dixon said that even if it closes early, parents will be able to pick up their children. But no one can park in the area, which will make dropping off kids in car seats a trying endeavour.
One mother of three young children looked aghast when she was told she would not be able to park in the underground lot, while a father suggested it might be fun for the kids to see so many police officers.
“I don’t want my kids meeting police under these circumstances,” Constable Dixon said. “Police in riot gear is cool on TV, but in real life it’s a bit scary.”
Cheryl Tjok-A-Tam works on Front Street and drops her three-year-old son, Noah, off every day at Downtown Montessori in Simcoe Place. She is hoping they can both take a day off.
“Either we’ll be staying at home or we’ll take advantage of the fact that both my parents are retired,” she said. “If we can avoid it, we’ll avoid it.”
Joy Angeles, who works in Simcoe Place and has her two-year-old daughter, Cailyn, in the Downtown Montessori facility, said she is definitely taking the Friday off but does not know whether she should worry about getting to the facility earlier in the week as well.
“They told us to Google the G20 protest to see what’s planned,” she said.
Officers from the G20 Integrated Security Unit will be doing walk-throughs of the three child-care centres closest to the summit site, so they can help plan evacuation strategies.
“We’re very concerned and we’re doing everything we can to protect the kids, and the staff and the parents,” Constable Dixon said. “But we also have to protect the protesters right to protest.”
She Dixon said they had not originally realized that there were child-care centres within the planned security area.
“We’ll know now to ask property managers: Do you have a daycare on site?” she said. “We didn’t think of it.”
Liz Ferguson, founder of Downtown Montessori, said she will decide in the next couple of weeks whether she will stay open in the lead-up to the summit, and will be alerting parents soon that a closing is a possibility. She said the summit could cost her business $7,000 a day in lost revenue. She is worried about her tiny charges as well as the safety of her staff, and thanked Constable Dixon for being candid about the impact the summit will have on the area.
“She said business will not operate as usual,” Ms. Ferguson said. “I appreciate that honesty.”
