Jocelyn Favreau was a childcare builder and innovator
Jocelyn Favreau with kids at the Glebe Parents Daycare.
Jocelyn Favreau was a childcare builder and innovator
By Jim Thompson with Penny Bertrand and Wendy Thomson
Jocelyn Favreau helped to raise hundreds, if not thousands, of Glebe kids during her 38-year childcare career. She was instrumental in creating the childcare facility on Fifth Avenue where many graduates of her care send their own children today.
Favreau died on November 10 after a lengthy illness, surrounded by people she loved. She was 74.
She was a nurse, a trained early-childhood educator and an ace baker. But mostly she was a childcare pro, devoting her working life to caring for kids in the Glebe. She never boasted or put herself out front. One former colleague remarked, “Jocelyn was great at being important in the background.”
Back in the mid 1970s when she started her career, there were few caregivers as credentialed as Favreau and some of her colleagues at the Glebe Parents Co-op. They were on the front line of the professionalization of the sector’s workforce, with Favreau leading the way.
Favreau and her colleagues loved what they did and quietly demanded the recognition they deserved. She was a steadfast supporter of CUPE Local 2204, the childcare workers union.
“Most of us had formal training, which was very different from most other childcare of the day,” said friend and colleague Wendy Thomson. “We were so proud of the quality of our work with the children and the profession we were making for women in our sector.”
Favreau began and ended her childcare career at the Glebe Parents Co-op. Her working life spanned massive changes in the way our kids are cared for. She was a quiet leader of many of those changes here in Ottawa.
When Favreau joined the Glebe Parents Co-op a few years after it opened, it was still located in a multi-use space in the basement of the Glebe Community Centre. This meant the childcare centre had to be dismantled and put away at the end of every day and re-assembled the next. All the furniture was on wheels, which meant the kids could push it around too. Yikes!
At the time, finding suitable space for a childcare centre was nearly impossible. Though the community centre gave the co-op an initial lifeline, the basement was an untenable situation in the long term.
It took several years, but Favreau and her husband Dave Hagerman did the impossible and willed a new childcare centre from the ground at the corner of Fifth and The Driveway where it exists to this day. As one of Canada’s first purpose-built childcare centres, it was revolutionary.
Together, they were the dynamic duo. In meetings with potential funders, Dave was the finance guy while Jocelyn was the credible voice in support of a modern vision of childcare. It wasn’t easy, especially because Favreau had to keep the centre running at the same time, but they eventually raised all the money needed even before they found a location for the centre. That took another year before the City of Ottawa entered into a 99-year lease agreement, providing a solid foundation for the community’s dream. A dream Dave and Jocelyn brought to life.
With the money and site in place, Jocelyn and Dave led a design process that gave maximum voice to the caregivers, so its design was child centred.
Amid the sometimes-chaotic environment of the centre, Favreau brought a calm, non-judgemental kindness to all she did and everyone she interacted with. She inspired trust from parents who placed their children in her care and love from the kids she looked after. Favreau was not an anything-goes kind of person; she had a no-nonsense streak that was guided by her deep sense of what was right and fair.
With a centre full of kids, there is no guessing what kind of mischief the wee ones could get up to, and they did! Favreau was the go-to person for most cuts, bumps and tantrums. Colleagues turned to her for reassurance that all would turn out fine. And it usually did.
After retiring in 2015, Favreau developed new interests. She spent happy afternoons watching Michael Runtz lectures about the flora and fauna of the area. She also took up painting, enrolling in Bhat Boy’s weekly classes in the basement of the Glebe Community Centre, the original home of the toddler room – her happy place.
Jim Thompson, Penny Bertrand and Wendy Thomson were friends and admirers of Jocelyn Favreau.