PICTOU, N.S. — A mother in Pictou County is in shock after learning that a support staff employee at a daycare her infant child went to has been under investigation for child pornography.
“Absolute shock and horror,” said the woman, who did not want to be named. “I just wanted to hold my baby and shower her in all the love I could, because I will never know. She’s too young to be able to tell me if she was ever hurt.”
She says that her child had attended the daycare in the Town of Pictou from the time it opened in May 2019 until August 2019, when it closed. After that she didn’t hear anything from the daycare staff until Jan. 21, 2020. That’s when she was told that police have been investigating the former employee for several months.
The daycare’s former owner addressed the matter in a Facebook message Jan. 21 sent to the parents of children who attended the daycare. In it she states the man was arrested in October. The owner said she knew nothing of any wrongdoing on the part of her employee prior to police involvement.
“I can assure you he was never left alone with the kids when the daycare was running and I am so sorry this has all happened,” the message reads.
“I mean, how am I ever to fully know that?” said the parent.
'If there was a concern for public safety, the public would have been notified:' Police
No charges have been laid and the RCMP will not confirm anything related to the matter. However, Cpl. Jennifer Clarke with the RCMP told The News that parents would have been notified if children were at risk.
“I have been in touch with the investigators and can tell you that if a child was at risk, or if there was a concern for public safety, the public would have been notified,” said Clarke in an email to The News.
According to the message from the daycare owner, contact information of all the parents whose children attended that daycare has already been turned over to investigators.
None of those contacts, the parent says, had heard from the police. Jan. 21 was the first they had heard anything.
“There’s a number of parents that all received this message yesterday. That’s how we found out.”
The parent whose child was in the care of the man being investigated says timely communication from the RCMP would have eased a lot of fears.
“I would have liked to have seen better communication. I guess they didn’t want to panic us without something to go on,” said the parent. “But now it’s four months later after this arrest took place and now you’ve got parents panicking because we found out.”
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