Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Oct 17/05) - The only daycare centre in Fort Smith will permanently close Oct. 28, and there are two very different opinions about who's to blame.

Aimee Clark, the president and volunteer acting director of Rainbow Child Care and Development Centre Society, points at insufficient GNWT financial support.

Aimee Clark, president of Fort Smith's Rainbow Child Care and Development Centre Society, sits among the daycare's toys in November of last year. - NNSL file photo

"We've struggled to make the centre work for more than a year now," Clark says. "But it's just not possible to continue the way things are."

However, Claudette James, a former secretary-treasurer of the society, says Clark pays employees "way too much" money.

"Basically, to me, she's used the daycare as a soapbox for her social agenda," James says.

Clark is an outspoken advocate for daycare services. James and two other members of the daycare society's board were removed by the membership in May.

Clark says, instead of a receiving grants based on the daycare's number of available spaces, GNWT financial support depends on the number of children attending.

"It ensures centres are always behind the eight ball, that we are always in a cash crunch," she says.

Clark says the 25-space daycare normally has 15 to 23 children each day.

For January to March, the daycare received $8,758 in subsidies from the GNWT. It also takes in parent fees.

James "totally disagrees" with Clark's assessment that government is to blame for the closure. She says Clark pays workers $18 an hour.

"Basically, the way it was set up, it can't support itself with the wages she was paying."

Clark says workers start at $15 an hour, adding that's "pretty normal" for daycares across the North. "We're not paying our staff too much money."

The daycare employs six full or part-time childcare workers, plus a janitor.

James says she became secretary-treasurer in December, but was not allowed to see financial documents until April.

"Whenever I would ask for financial information, (Clark) would say it's none of the board's business," says James.

Freda Beers, who became secretary-treasurer after James, says she was also not given financial statements, and found it pointless to hold the position, which she recently resigned. "I didn't know anything."

Clark insists James and Beers had access to the documents.

After a disagreement about how the daycare was being run, James says she and two other board members were removed by the membership in May at Clark's urging and warnings the daycare might close.

Clark says James was removed because of inaction in fundraising, but would not go into further detail.

The daycare's yearly fundraising target is $55,000, which James says is unreasonable.

Only Clark and a vice-president now remain on the board to wind down the society's affairs.

The daycare, which has an annual budget of about $285,000, needs about $30,000 to settle outstanding accounts.

Clark says, once equipment is sold, it will come close to paying off the debt.

Aurora College students and their children will be the hardest hit by the closure. Of the 27 children registered at the daycare, 18 are dependents of college students.

Beers, a student from Yellowknife and a mother of two, says she may have to take her children to her management studies classes. "It's either drop out of school or take your kids with you."

She says Fort Smith's day homes are full and reliable babysitters are rare.

Fort Smith has three licensed day homes with 24 spaces. Such homes must be licensed for over four children.

College student Verna Blake of Fort McPherson looks after a two-year-old nephew and may have to send him back home because of the closure.

"It's left me stuck here and I don't know what to do," says the teacher education student.

Meanwhile, Education, Culture and Employment Minister Charles Dent says it would make little sense to fund a daycare based on the number of spaces, when fewer children might show up.

Dent says no daycare in the NWT is rolling in cash, but adds, "Others have found ways to keep going."

The Fort Smith daycare also stayed open during the summer for only a few children, while most daycares closed, he added.

Clark says 10-15 children were registered over the summer, and staff also did administration, clean-up and program preparation.

"(Dent's) statement just goes to show he has no concept of what's needed at the grassroots level," she says.

Dent also noted the daycare has space from the college for $1 a year. "Most centres have to pay considerably more for space."

The minister says he hopes the children at the daycare can be absorbed by the community as soon as possible.