• Congrats to our New Board Members!
• May Calendar
• June 1st is our Street Party Fundraiser: Register to Participate!
• Our Event Sponsors and Donors
• Events, Links and Resources for Parents and Caregivers
• Infographics: Tips for Navigating Food Resistance; and What is Self-Regulation?
• Evacuation Drills are Returning to Kimbourne!
• List of Local EarlyON programs
• Procedure and Protocol Reminders
• Land Acknowledgment
• Stroller Parking at Kimbourne

Welcome and Congrats to our New Board Members!

We had a fantastic Annual General Meeting on April 25th. We welcomed Anna Nowak, Katee Hui and Kathryn Ruthford to our Board of Directors! We thank them in advance for their service to this community!

We also said "Thank you and Farewell" to Vanessa Stevenson, Meredith Briglio and Rachael Owen-Worden, who have collectively given East End Children's Centre 19 years of service! They have planned multiple fundraising events, and helped keep our ship steady through the pandemic years. All local moms, they understand families in the East End and we know they’ll continue strengthening the community through their leadership, commitment and big hearts! 

read the annual report

At the AGM, we enjoyed a delicious meal catered by Tea-N-Bannock, and a reading of The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen by local author Nadia Devi Umadat! Look for Nadia's book in the reading centres at both our Kimbourne and Terry Fox locations.

We Thank our Event Sponsors and Donors

More events & links!!

• Painting With Toddlers on May 27th, 10:30 - 11 am at Danforth & Coxwell branch
• Lactation Consultant Visit: Tuesday, May 27th, at our Baby Time program
• Public Health Nurse Visit: TBA
• Browse a list of nearby EarlyON Centres
• Search for an EarlyON Child & Family Centre anywhere in Toronto
• Other local resources: food banks/free pantries, links for people experiencing violence, personal care banks, local library programs
• We've added links to breastfeeding supports and perinatal supports to our local resources page
• Communication Checklist for children from Surrey Place Centre's Speech & Language Program

Our third year nursing students Isabeau Clarke and Jessica Thai created some great resources on Self Regulation and Micronutrient-Based Food Suggestions and tip on navigating resistance to new foods!

By clicking on the images, parents and caregivers can access these insightful resources and benefit from the knowledge and effort put forth by these students last semester.

Our staff will be conducting monthly evacuation drills beginning next week. In May, we will practice evacuating every week, to allow children many chances to gain experience with drills. The first of these drills will take place May 8th and May 15th.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the procedures:

1. Staff will alert participants to the drill 
2. Participants will be permitted to slip on shoes
3. Important: Coats, bags, and strollers must be left behind. We will be back inside in under 5 minutes. Please do not delay the process by gathering unnecessary items.
4. Gather your children. Ask another adult to help carry children if you have more than one that can not walk on their own.
5. One staff will lead the group to the door.
6. A second staff will help the group cross the street.
7. A third staff will gather the group on the sidewalk across the street and do a head count.
8. A fourth staff will check the space to make sure everyone has evacuated.
9. When all participants are on the sidewalk across the street and a head count has been completed, everyone walks safely back across the street and indoors where program resumes immediately.

***Participation in evacuation drills is mandatory for everyone. Please do not attempt to leave the program during the drill***

We expect adults attending our programs to model a positive attitude during evacuation drills, so that children feel safe while practicing these skills. Please follow all directions from staff to avoid delaying the process.

East End Children’s Centre is located in Tkaronto, now known as Toronto, which in Mohawk means ‘where there are trees standing in the water”.

East End Children's Centre is located on the traditional territories of many First Peoples, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. These nations continue to experience ongoing colonization and displacement– where land acknowledgements are offered in place of land itself.

This territory is part of ‘the Dish with One Spoon’ wampum, a Treaty made between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas, and Haudenosaunee, where nations entered into an agreement to protect the land and responsibly care for its resources in harmony together.

As settlers, newcomers, refugees, and Indigenous peoples, we have all been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship, and respect. We are also mindful of broken treaties that persist across Turtle Island today and recognize our responsibilities as Treaty people to engage in a meaningful, continuous process of truth and reconciliation with all our relations.

We remember those who came here involuntarily, particularly those brought to these lands as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery. This city was built on stolen land and stolen labour of Black, Indigenous, and racialized people. What we now refer to as Canada was also built on the labour of many immigrant and migrant communities. From the transcontinental railroad to farming and food production, the country heavily relied (and continues to) on the talent, skill, and hard work of racialized people. In exchange, many of them are denied residence, and they continue to go through punishing immigration experiences and perpetuating racial disparities.

By being on this land, we are all responsible for upholding its treaties. Treaty agreements were made to last as long as “the sun shines, the grass grows, and rivers flow.”



We invite you to learn about the Indigenous Nations that care for the land you are on, and where you might come from, visit native-land.ca to learn more.

• Masking is optional at this time. We have a limited supply of masks currently, and ask participants to bring their own. LINK
• Please self-screen and STAY HOME if you or the children are not well. Our organization has always required self-screening for cold, flu, gastro-intestinal symptoms, conjunctivitis (pink eye) and any suspected or confirmed communicable illnesses. We ask for the same vigilance you've shown all through the pandemic.
• Please be sure to scan your KEyON tag when to arrive at program. Be sure to let us know if you have lost it, so we can give you a new one. Hack: take a photo of the QR code on your tag!
• We will continue sanitizing high-touch surfaces and baby toys daily.
• Please place toys that have been in a child's mouth into the labelled container for toys that need immediate washing.
• Please clean your hands and your children's hands on arrival at our programs, after blowing or wiping your/your child's nose, before and after playing in the sandbox, before and after snack and after using the washroom.
• Please take home your used diapers (we have bags!) and please never flush wipes down our toilets.
• EECC is known for our sense of community. Thank you in advance for being welcoming and supportive of everyone, including parents and caregivers whose choices differ from yours and children who may be neurodivergent and need accommodation.

Stroller Parking Tips

• Please be prepared to park your stroller on the lawn on days when the stroller room at Kimbourne fills up and bring a lock so you can lock it to the railing way up on the hill. Sadly, a stroller that was not locked was stolen from our lawn the past spring.
• If you're able to secure a spot in our stroller parking room, please park with BRAKES OFF, to make it easier for us to manoeuver strollers as needed.
• Please... NEVER leave your stroller on our ramp at Kimbourne, as this disrupts accessibility and evacuation procedures.