Ex-child care worker charged with assault

A former YMCA child care worker in New Glasgow is under investigation for an alleged assault involving a child.

YMCA of Pictou County CEO and Executive Director Tammy Goodwin confirmed the organization was recently made aware of the allegation made against a former child care staff member.

The former employee is accused of committing a common assault during an incident involving a child.

Goodwin stressed that the safety and wellbeing of children is a top priority for the YMCA.

“We are in communication with the child’s family, and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.”

New Glasgow Regional Police Const. Ken Macdonald confirmed that police are investigating the incident, but said no official charges have been laid yet.

Goodwin said the YMCA takes incidents and allegations of this nature very seriously and the organization has comprehensive policies and practices in place that are strictly enforced.

For confidentiality reasons she said she could not say whether the person was fired or left on their own accord.

“We are in the process of conducting a full and thorough internal review of the incident, which includes documenting and implementing learnings from this incident.

We will also continue to work in full cooperation with New Glasgow Police and family services throughout their investigation.”

She said that as with any child-related incident, the YMCA is not able to disclose any specific details about the incident.

Common assault is classified as the lowest level of assault in the Criminal Code of Canada and is defined as an individual intentionally applying force or threatening to apply force to another person, without that person's consent.