Lorna Reid, Board Director
Lorna served the fields of Early Learning and Child Care, Social Housing and Adult Learning for over forty years. She is an alumna of U of Guelph and U of Toronto, OISE.
While supervising a multi service agency’s child care centre and implementing the York Early Identification Project, an enduring commitment to inclusion began. She was a TDSB child care advisor, supporting parent groups in all aspects of creating or expanding non profit centres in schools. Lorna worked in municipal child care services in Toronto and Peel Region in increasingly senior roles. As director, she led the implementation of Best Start and oversaw the Social Housing Renovation and Retrofit Program.
Lorna taught, sat on ECE Program Advisory Committees and provided placement opportunities. She served on numerous committees, boards and task forces. After retirement, Lorna returned to U of Guelph as a director.
Now a grandmother, Lorna’s vision remains: systems in which all children and families can access high quality early learning and services that they need or want.
Building Blocks for Child Care has created an active and engaged Advisory Working Group. In addition to the Board of Directors this Group comprises nine individuals with expertise in a variety of capacities and from different regions of the province, including rural Ontario. It includes representation from centre early learning and child care, home child care, a college professor with expertise in the needs of Early Childhood Educators, leaders in Canadian Union of Postal Workers who have dedicated over 30 years to build flexible early learning and child care models for their members across Canada; the expertise from the YWCA – a key voice of women in the country, academics, researchers, executive directors of existing multi-service programs, representatives from the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, a long-standing organization with contacts in every corner of the province. Our advisors are drawn from groups whose needs have not been well reflected in the profile of early learning and child care programs so far, as well as administrators and financial experts.
Shellie Bird, Child Care Co-ordinator, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Sarah Boesveld, Manager of Advocacy, YWCA Toronto.
Sarah is passionate about gender equity issues and sees the chance to build a universal, affordable, not-for-profit child care system as a major step in achieving a more equitable society for all. She is also a freelance writer and a former staff journalist for outlets including Chatelaine magazine, The National Post and The Globe & Mail. She is also a mom
Dan’s child care experience deepened during his tenure as Senior Director, Children and Families with the Learning Enrichment Foundation, where he stewarded 33 licensed child care centres through the pandemic and the early days of the CWELCC Agreement implementation. Currently, Dan is part of the senior leadership team as Director, Programs at Today’s Family, supporting both licensed group and home child care, EarlyON centres and summer camps.
Dan believes this is a significant ‘moment in time’ to build a strong foundation for children to access inclusive, quality child care, and for educators to be acknowledged as the professional, nurturing, and experienced leaders they are. In addition to supporting the work of Building Blocks for Child Care as an advisor, Dan sits on the Board of Directors of Family Day Care Services, a 170+ year-old charity offering licensed home and group care, and Early ON centres in Toronto, Peel and York Regions.
Petr Varmuza, retired Director at Toronto Children’s Services.
Petr is a retired public servant with the City of Toronto, from the position of Director of Operational Effectiveness, City of Toronto Children’s Services. He was responsible for policy, service planning and an annual operating budget in excess of $400 million. Petr received a PhD in 2020 from OISE, University of Toronto. Petr works as a research assistant with Michal Perlman at OISE.