In a city where the daycare wait list exceeds 2,000 children, the province has revoked a planned addition of 75 spots in Sault Ste. Marie.
The District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board, which oversees daycare operations in the city, had anticipated receiving funding for 85 new daycare spaces to be made available in the city in 2025 and 2026.
Recently, the DSSAB was informed by the province it was lowering that allocation to just 10 spots over those two years.
There are currently 1,947 licensed daycare spaces in the Sault, with an additional 2,200 people on the wait list.
DSSAB CEO Mike Nadeau said during Thursday's board meeting that the possible closure of the YMCA threatened more than 500 licensed daycare spaces in the city. This put DSSAB into 'survival mode' as it worked to ensure those spaces were not permanently lost.
Those months of work by DSSAB staff to save the YMCA spaces meant they were not able to complete the work required by the province for the expansion.
"We were faced with the closure of the YMCA and, rather than getting thanked for saving 30 per cent of our community spaces, we're punished with a cut. It's unacceptable," Nadeau said to the board.
"We had a plan and we had the rug taken out from underneath us, to be quite blunt."
Nadeau said he believes mental health and addiction rates in the city can stem from childhood trauma.
"If we don't advocate for the children to get them into child-care spaces and we accept this cut without communicating our strong desire, I'll be very, very disappointed," he said.
Sault MPP Chris Scott told SooToday on Friday that he is advocating from within the provincial government to reinstate the lost spaces.
He also noted, with two preschool-aged children, he is also directly affected by the wait list.
"I'm living it with 1,800 other families right now," Scott said.
Nadeau and Scott have a monthly meeting. The MPP says he is not only aware of concerns about the cuts, but advocating for that decision to be reversed.
"The Sault is marketed itself as great place to live, work and raise your family. If we want to get the doctors, if we want to get other professionals, if we want to grow as a community — to make the last part true, we need to open up more daycare spaces," Scott said.