Daycare association eyes possible new home
Plans for next facility aimed at growth in infant care
Simon Whitehouse
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The doors to the city's largest licensed daycare facility will close at the end of July with the expiration of its lease agreement but plans are in the works to open a new location as soon as possible.
Shannon Diemert, president of the Yellowknife Day Care Association, said in an e-mail late last week that the association is looking to have a licensed facility at privately owned lots on 52 Avenue between 51 and 52 streets.
Last September, the association was given written notice by the GNWT - which owns the current daycare building on 51 Street - that the lease would end July 31.
She said the design of the new building will hopefully allow the association to have a more modern facility that will be energy efficient, attractive to families and more accommodating for childcare, especially for infants.
"The board of directors is currently working on several ideas that will allow us to move forward with designing a building and the number of children we would be able to house," Diemert said.
"We would like to increase our number of infant spaces to meet the demand that currently stands on our waitlist, as well as additional babies."
Diemert said the daycare currently has 12 out of the 24 licensed infant spots in the city and they come at a cost of $940 per month. She added that the association has about a one-to-four ratio of teachers to children. The highest demand for infant spaces is seen among young parents, Diemert said, due to the interest in returning to work after the birth of their children.
"There is a definite lack of licensed spaces in the city for that age group," she said.
"Hiring more qualified staff will allow us to continue to provide quality child care to Yellowknife families."
Diemert said she hopes to be in contact with Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green, ahead of the next sitting of the legislative assembly and looks forward to working with the GNWT to move the daycare project forward.
A timeline for the project couldn't be determined by press time. The daycare building, located on 51 Street between Ecology North and the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre, was built in 1946 and in need of updates.
A daycare has been operational at the location since 1981.
