TORONTO -- An Ontario ombudsman investigation into unlicensed daycares has found lax rules that were "barely being enforced" in a system with legal loopholes.
The investigation was launched following the death of a two-year-old girl at a home daycare in Vaughan, Ont., north of Toronto last year.
Ombudsman Andre Marin says Eva Ravikovich was one of four children in the Greater Toronto Area to die in an unlicensed daycare in a seven-month period, but her death signalled "significant problems" when government officials weren't able to say how many complaints had been made about her facility.
He says his investigation found that the province "rarely and inconsistently enforces the few lax rules it has" for unlicensed daycares, with staff shying away from unannounced inspections.
Marin says his team found "alarming loopholes" that have allowed illegal daycares to operate "under the guise of private schools and so-called summer 'camps."'
He is not recommending that all daycares be licensed, but is urging the Ministry of Education to consider a centralized registry and tougher standards for the unlicensed sector.
Unlicensed daycare operators can't care for more than five unrelated children under the age of 10, not counting their own kids. But Marin said 29 children and 14 dogs were allegedly found amid "unsanitary and dangerous conditions" at Ravikovich's daycare.
The government estimates that 95 of Marin's 113 recommendations are already being addressed. While Marin praised the government's co-operation with his investigation, he called their response "too little, too late."
Many of the problems he found date back years but were compounded in 2012 when responsibility for the daycare system was moved from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to the Ministry of Education.
"More than two years later, in the wake of at least four deaths, serious issues have still not been addressed," Marin said in a statement. "At a certain point, you have to ask, what could be more pressing, more urgent, than protecting children?"
The New Democrats had called on Marin to launch the investigation.
Education officials admitted that they failed to follow up on two of three complaints lodged against Ravikovich's Vaughan daycare.
Two Education Ministry employees were suspended after it was discovered that a number of complaints about unlicensed daycares went unanswered in 2012.
