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Alberta’s Official Opposition is calling on the UCP to allow for more transparency in making families aware of abuse allegations at child-care facilities in the province.
Child care and family services shadow Minister Diana Batten said certain “serious” and “severe” child abuse cases at daycares in recent months have spurred a need to amend the Early Learning and Child Care Act to a government-led notification system.
“We need the government to take responsibility for notifying all parents when serious physical or sexual abuse allegations happen in child-care programs,” she told reporters in a Wednesday press conference.
The call to action also outlined the need for an accessible, public online portal to access a child-care program’s full history.
The government currently has a database for looking up available child care in the province with recent information on a provider’s licence, capacity and results of inspections from up to 18 months ago.
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Willowbrae Academy Millcreek, a daycare in his riding, made headlines in 2025 after complaints of abuse arose against an employee.
Police issued a Canada-wide warrant for 32-year-old Dilpreet Singh Chawla, who had at that point been placed on leave from Willowbrae, for sexual assault and sexual interference.
The first complaint, which alleged sexual assault in a shed at the facility, was reported to Alberta’s Early Learning and Child Care office on June 18. Families were informed of a ‘serious incident’ at the daycare in August in a bulletin post.
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The NDP say changing the Act to put more onus on the government would absolve the need for “pointing fingers” between police, the Early Learning and Child Care office and child-care providers during an investigation.
At legislature Wednesday, childcare and education minister Demetrios Nicolaides told reporters he was “happy” to look into ways of strengthening the reporting process for child-care facility incidents.
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