Without daycare spots, man who hoped to start over in Winnipeg after losing vision still can't work

Oluwatomi Waziri moved to Winnipeg last year with his wife and two children, but a wait-list for daycare has impacted his career and forced him to become a stay-at-home dad. 

Oluwatomi was robbed and attacked by armed bandits in Nigeria five years ago, and he is now completely blind.

"Unfortunately, I didn't plan to come to Canada to be a babysitter but to add my bit to the Canadian society, community and economy at large," says Oluwatomi. 

Oluwatomi says as a blind person, he found out that massage therapy is one of the career options he could choose in Canada. He got a certification in Nigeria but once he arrived in November, he learned he needed a Canadian certification too. 

"I did my research about colleges here in Winnipeg that give massage therapy certification, but it turns out that I'm not able to do that because there's a long wait for childcare and I have to babysit the kids."

Oluwatomi says after years of overcoming depression, he planned to come to Canada and develop skills, like learning how to use a screen reader, in order to be employable. He says he started learning to use a laptop through Visual Loss Manitoba and even reached out to CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) but couldn't maintain an appointment because of child care for his 3-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.

"Nigeria wasn't really friendly for persons with disabilities in terms of welfare, mental support, physical support. So I did my research and chose Canada." 

He says his wife came on an International student visa and he got a dependent work permit. His wife is working in retail while attending school, and he receives some benefits through Employment and Income Assistance (EIA).

His wife Maria Waziri says they applied to almost 10 daycare centres starting in December, but she still hasn't heard back from them.

"There was a time we were so desperate that we kept calling them back, they had to send us a message that there was no need to call, when there is space we will call you," Maria said.

She says Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) has been very helpful to them because of her husband's condition. They gave them preference for half-day daycare spaces but she is still on the waiting list for full-time. 

Daycare dilemma for immigrants

Shereen Denetto, executive director of IRCOM, said in an email that they work tirelessly to find daycare for newcomers enrolled with the organization. She says they have a partnership with a daycare provider which is located at their Isabel Street site.

"There are only 16 preschool spots in this daycare, and we have triple that number of children requiring child care across both sites. Families with multiple barriers are often prioritized over other families," Denetto said in an email.

Jodie Kehl, executive director with Manitoba Child Care Association says Oluwatomi's example is an unfortunate situation indicative of many families that are seeking child care.  

"As child care has become more affordable, the demand has increased." She says the province committed to 23,000 new spaces by 2026. Most, if not all, provinces and territories are going to find this a challenge.

Nello Altomare, minister of education and early childhood learning, acknowledged that wait-lists are too long. He says his government is committed to addressing the many challenges in child care.

"Since forming the government, we have increased child-care spaces, operating grants, wages for sector workers and training spaces."

He says Manitoba signed the early learning and child care agreement with the federal government in August 2021, in which Manitoba committed to create 23,000 new child care spaces by March 31, 2026.

"We've invested $40 million into early learning and child care just on the provincial side. What we've done so far is to create 6,900 spaces. We're on track by the end of the year to create 9,200 spaces."

Oluwatomi says the province has since reached out to him. He says he got a call giving him information on three locations. However, he says two of them are not responding. 

He says the only one that picked up said there was no space for his daughter because she is less than four years old.

"The lady said they only take children from four years old and above, and this is usually the response we always get which doesn't work for my family." 

He says while speaking to many new immigrants, he noticed many are facing the same challenge. He feels sharing his story would resonate with others experiencing similar challenges.

"I would plead with the Manitoba government to look into this to see if there can be some sort of relief."

He says getting a daycare would change his life. "At least I'll know that I'm there to support my wife and I'll be able to get things that my children are pointing at the grocery store and I cannot afford them."

Lack of daycare space forces blind immigrant in Winnipeg to put career on hold

2 months ago

Duration 2:04

Oluwatomi Waziri moved from Nigeria to Winnipeg last year with his wife and two children, but a wait-list for daycare has impacted his career and forced him to become a stay-at-home dad.