They DID know, Emma. They perhaps didn't know exactly how many kids, but there were 4 complaints lodged with the ministry against that particular business. The ministry went once, told them what needed fixing....and never returned for follow up. This is 100% an oversight issue. I'm not sure if you've been following this whole thing. But, the AG report shows that the licensed sector had a much, much higher incident rate than the unregulated sector. 29,000 serious injuries, fires, cases of abuse, neglect and 6 deaths. What constitutes a serious injury is outlined in the AG report. Liz Sandals stated in a meeting that these serious occurrences were 'scraped knees and elbows' and 'burnt toast setting off the smoke alarm'. By reading the AG report, we know that this is a flat out lie. Concussions, broken bones, cuts.....not bandaid material. One could argue, perhaps with validity, that not as many incidents are reported in the unlicensed sector. Fair enough...but you can't hide an infant/child death. They have SIX!!! Unregulated had six as well. But....we have 78% of the market....they have 22%. Let that comparison sink in a bit......Liz chalked all the licensed deaths up to SIDS. Ok....who's to say they ALL weren't SIDS??? The coroner's office doesn't release that information. Aside from that, only 1 death on the unregulated side occurred with a provider following the current rules (DNA)...and was ruled accidental. The simple fact is that our business have been proven to be safer than licensed. The issue is not with legislation, it's with the Ministry and their severe lack of oversight. They HAD to push this bill through quickly, BEFORE the AG report came out because it pointed the blame squarely at them.

We did suggest offering us independent licensing because that way, we could take subsidy cases and actually eliminate the subsidy wait list. Nope. They want us in with Agencies. The agencies are the policy writers....they formed the bill. There isn't one thing about this whole schmozzle that's legitimate or even honest. And now, to rub salt in the wounds, they've begun a public awareness campaign. It doesn't come right out and SAY that we're the root of all these problems, but everything out there certainly insinuates it clearly. It's absolutely disgusting.