Winnipeg daycare centre may have to close due to mould, asbestos

The mould in the boys' bathroom at the Epiphany Children's Centre is so bad staff won't go in and children are told to put on masks before using the facilities.

The Fort Richmond daycare is operating on a provisional licence after health inspectors found mould in the bathrooms and asbestos in the utility room and crawl spaces.

"Myself, I'm very concerned, because we are sending our children to this space every day and as a board member and as the chair, I have significant concerns about the health of our staff," said Julian Nedohin-Macek, chair of the Epiphany Children's Centre board and a parent with two children enrolled at the daycare.

Parents gathered at the centre on Wednesday night to talk to Michelle Stevens-Weins, the acting director of Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care, Fort Richmond MLA Sarah Guillemard and board members about the findings of an independent hazardous buildings assessment by Pinchin Environmental Engineering and the daycare inspection report outlining issues with mould and asbestos.

The centre failed its health inspection but is operating on a provisional licence until January.

The Pinchin Hazardous Materials Assessment Report dated Nov. 1 shows issues with asbestos, mould in a bathroom and lead in the paint and recommends removing the materials as soon as possible.

Because of the report's findings, staff no longer go into the utility room if a breaker is tripped, which happens frequently due to old wiring.

"There's asbestos near the water heaters and the breakers are very close to it," said centre director Deepa Raghvan.

"So although the health inspector came in and said it's of low risk, our staff, I don't want [them] to take that risk, with asbestos," Raghvan said.

"So staff have not entered [the utility room] or the washrooms since that Pinchin report came out," Raghvan said.

Staff spend one hour, three times a day, changing diapers, and because of the concerns about mould, they use the washroom facilities in the church next door, which owns the daycare building. Because children only spend a few minutes at a time in the bathrooms, they are given masks before going in.

Nedohin-Macek said the centre needs a major renovation at a cost of about $700,000 to deal with the mould and asbestos.

There are numerous problems in the centre, from old wiring to carpet that is threadbare, he said.

"The space is falling apart," he said. "It's 45 years old and in that time, lots can deteriorate.

"If we wanted to just do remediation, we could get it done for $15,000, but then there would be no bathroom and there would just be empty space there, so we could get rid of the hazardous materials but we wouldn't be able to open because we wouldn't have a bathroom," said Nedohin-Macek.

The daycare needs funds from the provincial government to get the work done, he said.

"We have a long-term lease in place, we have architectural plans, we have detailed design plans, we had a tender go out, we have bids come back in and now we're just waiting for money," he said.

Epiphany is a non-profit daycare funded by the province and parent fees.

The Winnipeg Foundation has given them a grant, but nothing close to what they need, Nedohin-Macek said.

Nedohin-Macek said he received a verbal commitment for capital grants from the province under the former NDP administration, but was told since the government has changed, every grant is now under review.

Board chair feels pessimistic

"In a previous meeting we had with one representative of the province, [the representative indicated] that the current government is not interested in raising taxes for any reason whatsoever, so as far as I can tell that has been not a firm no, but it has definitely been a comment that we didn't see as positive," Nedohin-Macek said.

The provincial government hasn't yet responded to requests for more information.

The temporary licence will expire on Jan. 18. Nedohin-Macek doesn't know what will happen after that if the daycare isn't able to raise the money to move forward on the renovation.

Nedohin-Macek left the meeting pessimistic, saying even though the province said it wants to help the centre deal with its issues, it wasn't willing to commit to any funding for the work.

In a statement Friday, Manitoba Families Minister Scott Fielding said he was aware of the situation. 

"Our primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of the children, and we have been advised by Public Health that there is no health risk to the children attending the centre or to the staff. The Department of Families, Early Learning and Child Care, continues to work closely with the Board and staff at Epiphany in the hope that improvements can be made," the statement read.