The Ontario government says it is providing $20 million to launch a new fund that will help daycares and other community facilities install concrete barriers to protect them.
The province is naming the initiative the Liam Riazati Memorial Fund, in honour of a child who died after a vehicle slammed into a daycare centre in Richmond Hill in September.
“This investment will provide safety and support in the short term while the province examines long-term strategies to upgrade safety requirements across our child care sector,” Education Minister Paul Calandra said at a news conference Monday morning.
Calandra said daycares will be able to apply in early 2026 for operators to deliver and install the barriers, which will be supplied free of charge. He said the application process will be simple and further details will be provided to child care operators early next year.
The province said it plans to consult with the sector and technical experts on updating design guidelines and regulations for licensed child care programs, including best practices to improve the safety of indoor and outdoor play spaces for children.
Liam Riazati, died Sept. 10 after a driver in his 70s crashed his SUV into a daycare centre in the area of Yonge Street and 19th Avenue. Six other children and three adults were injured in the crash. The driver is facing dangerous driving charges, but police have said they do not believe the crash was deliberate.
The family of the one-year-old said back in September that they want to see legislation that would better protect child care spaces.
Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Michael Parsa spoke alongside Calandra Monday and said he hopes naming the fund after Riazati will give the toddler’s family “some small comfort in knowing that his name will forever be remembered in our province” through the initiative.
“As lawmakers, we too must take action to make sure that tragedies like this never happen again,” Parsa said.
Calandra acknowledged that $20 million will not be enough to cover all vulnerable spaces, but said more money will be made available in the coming years.
“It really is just a start,” Calandra said. “This is to get out there as quickly as possible and get some of the most vulnerable locations handled as quickly as possible.
“There will obviously be more funding that is going to be needed to ensure the safety of all our centres, and not only in place of worship and classes, but there might be some schools that have the same vulnerabilities. So there will be more money available through the budgeting process in the coming years.”
