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But the Centre de l’Enfant Aux 4 vents defended its zero-tolerance ban on outside food Thursday.

“We don’t know if that [food] touched peanut butter before being brought in,” daycare director Deb Ducharme said. “We can’t take that chance.”

Ducharme said the strict no-outside-food policy aimed to protect “the health and safety and wellbeing of all the children” and staff who are allergic to a wide variety of food products, including peanuts, wheat, gluten, egg, fruits, vegetables and seafood.

All parents have to sign a document acknowledging that they understand the zero-tolerance policy — which also includes the immediate expulsion of anyone who brings nuts into the facility — when they enroll their child, Ducharme said.

Murray said he can’t recall the daycare emphasizing the policy when he enrolled his two children, but he did remember “signing a lot of stuff.”

As serious allergies become more common, schools have struggled to accommodate concerned parents. Some requests — such as outright bans on peanuts — have become routine, but Murray says the Ottawa daycare’s zero-tolerance policy is too extreme.

“Carrying out these sanctions is certainly not something that we take lightly,” Ducharme said. The daycare has had to suspend “a few” children in the past, but the parents usually bring the children back and there are “no hard feelings.”

“I find in our day, there’s a lot of entitlement issues,” she said. “People tend to look at their own situations and … they’re not able to — or they just choose not to — sympathize with others around them, and they’re needs.”

Murray said he understands that some children need an allergy-free environment, but the situation could have been resolved with a simple warning. He said he’s looking for a new daycare that’s a little more understanding.

“This was a two-year-old making a simple mistake,” Murray said. “[It] was blown out of proportion very quickly.”