University of Ottawa loses on-campus daycare after 26-year run

The University of Ottawa is without an on-campus daycare for the first time in decades after the Bernadette Child Care Centre closed in April. The closure forced 49 families—most of them students—to scramble for new childcare arrangements.

The daycare was shut down when the university moved ahead with plans to demolish the Brooks Complex, where the centre had operated for years, as part of a major campus redevelopment. The building, which also housed student residences, has sat largely vacant since 2018 after the university closed the dorms citing mould and construction defects.

"It was providing an essential service for the 49 families who used Bernadette," said Natalie Bruvels, who chaired the daycare's board. "To lose it is a massive disruption in people's lives."

Bruvels said the board had been working with university officials to relocate the daycare to a property at 200 Lees Ave., a site she believed could have accommodated the centre and potentially allowed it to expand. Those discussions ended abruptly in December. "We were told there were safety concerns," Bruvels said. "But we never really received clarification."

The abrupt end to relocation talks left the board with too little time to find another suitable location before vacating Brooks. Today, parts of the sprawling complex along King Edward Avenue are boarded up, with weeds growing through cracked concrete. The university plans to redevelop the site into a project that will include 2,600 residence beds, new classrooms, and a dining hall, with demolition expected later this summer.