YMCA closure impacts 169 jobs, puts 541 daycare spaces at risk

Documents filed with Ontario's Ministry of Labour show the Sault Ste. Marie YMCA offered a mass termination notice to 169 employees at its McNabb Street location and eight daycare centres, which together offer a total of 541 licensed daycare spots in the city.

Over the past two days, the Sault Y has been referring all questions about the daycare spaces to the District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB), which funds and oversees daycare in the city. In return, the DSSAB has been referring most questions about the daycares back to the YMCA.

On Tuesday, DSSAB chair Stephanie Hopkin told SooToday that to her knowledge, only the 140 daycare spaces at the YMCA's McNabb Street location were at immediate risk of being lost. Today, however, she clarified that the board has since learned about the mass termination notices given to employees at all of the satellite centres operated by the YMCA.

"On Tuesday I had provided you with the most up to date information I had at the time," Hopkin said today. "As I'm sure you can appreciate this is a highly dynamic and frequently evolving situation."

For information the employees affected, Hopkin referred questions to the YMCA leadership.

"We are continuing conversations with the YMCA about their main location and their offsite locations for licensed daycare spaces and their transition post-closure of the Sault YMCA," said Hopkin. "These staffing issues are internal to the YMCA and the DSSAB is unable to comment further on any staffing plans or updates."

At least some employees have received letters of termination directly from the Y, but SooToday has learned that many found out about the terminations through the media or from the Ministry of Labour form, which is required to be displayed at the workplace.

Hopkin confirmed there is a total of 541 licensed daycare spaces spread across the eight centres the Y currently operates, but she noted not all of those centres are currently at capacity. She said the DSSAB is working with all involved partners to find a solution to bring the spaces in question into the broader daycare system.

During last month's meeting of the DSSAB, integrated program manager Tanya Ritter told the board more than 2,000 children are currently on the wait list for daycare in Sault Ste. Marie. If a solution cannot be found before May 15, an additional 541 spaces could be lost.

A notice of termination document filed by the Sault Y with the Ministry of Labour confirms the number of employees losing their jobs as part of a mass termination. 

Don Ferguson, spokesperson for the Sault YMCA, said eight weeks notice was provided to employees as required under Ontario's Employment Standards Act.

A letter of termination provided to SooToday was dated April 16 and noted the employee would be terminated May 15, about a four week period.

A total of 91 hourly and 27 salaried employees at the McNabb Street Y have received their notices. The remaining 33 hourly and 18 salaried workers are spread out among the remaining seven Y-operated daycare centres across the city.

In a members meeting held Wednesday in the YMCA gymnasium, the organization's leadership heard concerns from a number of people who rely on the daycare provided across the eight centres. Sault Y interim CEO John Haddock told the crowd of approximately 100 people that unless the organization received about $3 million within the next 10 days, the future of the building is uncertain.

Among those with concerns at the meeting was Dr. John Tuinema, whose infant son Jack was scheduled to begin daycare at one of the Y-operated centres just two weeks from now.

"Both my wife and I have critical health care positions. We're not sure what we're going to do, usually in order to get any time off we need months in advance to prepare," Tuinema said at the meeting. "We're going to be in a tough situation."