Alberta government extends E. coli compensation program to more daycares

More of those impacted by the E. coli outbreak at 19 Calgary daycares can apply for a one-time compassionate payment, but one Calgary mom says it will take at least ten days to see the funds in their account.

In a letter dated Sept. 25, the Alberta Minister of Children and Family Services Searle Turton says eligible families can apply for the one-time payment of $2,000 at compassionatepayment.alberta.ca.

Eligible families affected by a full or partial child care closure or an exclusion order due to the E. coli outbreak, declared by AHS on Sept 4, can now apply for the one-time compassionate payment: https://t.co/Tjyir2ayeD pic.twitter.com/apFsi3eRvx

— Alberta Children and Family Services (@ABChildServices) September 25, 2023

In addition, he also put out a Facebook post elaborating the criteria that include 19 daycares in total, with families whose child-care program was fully closed or directly affected by a partial closure or exclusion order due to the E. coli outbreak.

There is no mention of the secondary community cases.

“I want to reassure families that they can place their trust in our high-quality child care system,” his post reads.

“Alberta’s government will be providing eligible families, whose child care program was fully closed, or directly affected by a partial closure or exclusion order due to the E. coli outbreak declared on Sept. 4, with a one-time payment of $2,000 per child.”

A Facebook post from Alberta Minister of Children and Family Services Searle Turton on Sept. 24, 2023. (Courtesy Facebook)

“I think what they’re trying to do is perhaps just cut off to draw a line somewhere so that the potential amount of compensation they’re on the hook for isn’t as significant,” said Lorian Hardcastle, an assistant professor in the faculty of law at the University of Calgary.

“Because potentially, you have a child pass it on to a few kids at a playground and pass it on to a few other people. And the government doesn’t have the ability to really limit that.”

The program was initially expected to cost more than $2.5 million for nearly 1,300 children.

Related Stories:

• Alberta Health Services says E. coli cases related to daycare outbreak stable

• E. coli cases in Calgary remain the same, source may never be known: Joffe

• Alberta announces funds for families impacted by Calgary E. coli outbreak

Talking to CityNews, a Calgary mom whom we have agreed to keep anonymous, says the communication from Alberta Health Services (AHS) and the government has been very poor and she has no clue how and when her kids will be cleared to return to the daycare.

Hardcastle says it seems the lessons learned during the COVID pandemic are already forgotten.

“Even if you don’t have answers, parents want to hear from the Premier, the Minister of Health, the chief medical officer of health, what’s being done to get answers and what’s being done to help them,” she explained.

“And that was a lesson and communication and one that they don’t seem to have learned because we’re seeing the same mistakes here repeated with parents feeling like they aren’t getting that information.”

Hardcastle says for those parents who end up receiving the one-time compassionate payment, it doesn’t change anything for them in pursuing litigation against the daycare, the central kitchen, or even the government.

“Merely throwing some money at the problem doesn’t solve that. For some parents the money is sufficient, their kids are already back in daycare and it’s fine, but the government also needs to hear the voices of those who are still struggling and still being affected by this.”

Watch: Calgary lawyers preparing class-action lawsuit after E. coli outbreak

A spokeswoman for the department said in an email later in the day that questions about the program would be answered at a Wednesday news conference on the investigation into the E. coli outbreak.

That news conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. in Calgary with Premier Danielle Smith, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, Turton, and Dr. Mark Joffe, chief medical officer of health.

Smith said last week that the compensation program would only be available to parents of the 11 daycares at the root of the outbreak, which put dozens of children in hospital and caused hundreds more to fall ill with the bacterial infection.

Investigators were still looking for the source, but have previously said it almost certainly came from a central kitchen used by the daycares.

As of Thursday, when the provincial health authority last provided an update, there were six children still receiving care at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and two remained on dialysis. There were 349 lab-confirmed cases of the bacterial infection and a total of 29 secondary cases.