SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Northern Tikes Daycare will close its doors next Friday after receiving an eviction notice leaving parents scrambling to find daycare services.

Parents received letters on Monday morning, attached to their child's cubby, stating financial reasons for the sudden closure.

Due to financial reasons, Northern Tikes Daycare will close its doors Friday, June 26, leaving Kayla Langenhan, 4, without daycare. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

"They've had to make the difficult decision of closing down the daycare," parent Robyn Langenhan said, reiterating what the letter said. "They've given us two weeks' notice and they may re-open in the fall, but they don't know."

Langenhan's daughter Kayla, 4, currently attends the daycare while she works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. She said parents are scrambling to try and find alternative daycare services.

"For a daycare of that size to shut down so unexpectedly with no advanced warning to the parents there are going to be a lot of children with nowhere to go," she said.

Shawn McCann, manager of public affairs for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said the daycare was provided with funding up to the paperwork they have submitted.

"They're behind in what money they could have received from us," McCann said.

McCann added the GNWT had yet to receive the daycare's 2007-2008 attendance records and audit. The documents are required to get funding for rent and operations. The Department of Education bent the rules and provided the funding for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, which ended in March, because the daycare said the paperwork was being completed. To date, the GNWT also has yet to receive this year's paperwork either and were forced to hold back funding.

Northern Tikes daycare has faced financial struggles for years. In 2006, the daycare struggled to pay the $8,000 monthly rent. The daycare was two months in arrears at that time it conducted vigorous fundraising to make its payments.

Roberta Blake, president of the Tikes Daycare board of directors, said they are being forced to close because the audit on the daycare's annual financial records has been delayed.

"We're behind in everything," Blake said. "With the audit being delayed, we're behind in receiving funding. The funding is there, we just can't access it at this point."

Langenhan has a babysitter taking care of her youngest child during the day and by 10 a.m. Monday morning, the babysitter was swamped with calls.

"She received 15 phone calls before 10 a.m.," she said. "People are in a panic. No one knows really what they are going to do."

The notice to parents indicated it might be possible for the daycare to re-open in the fall. Linda Benedict, executive director of the Yellowknife Daycare Association, said she'd heard they plan to open in the fall under a new name and new location. Blake said they hope to open up in the fall, but it's likely the centre won't be at the same location and are looking at a few other options.

"At this point we're not too sure," she said. "We'd love to be in the same location, it's perfect, but we're not sure where we will be."

As of Tuesday morning, Benedict had received eight or nine inquiries about space availability and was surprised by the amount of calls.

"I figured I was going to be getting more calls than I have," she said.

Benedict said her space is limited, with only eight spaces open for the summer program and only four or five spaces left for the fall program. She figures they will fill quickly.

Langenhan hopes residents of Yellowknife will step up and help to save the daycare.

"If there could be some community support, funding, anything, to keep the daycare running would be a tremendous help," she said. "They run a good program. The hours are great and they have the before school and after school programs. The buses pick them up there and take them to school.

"It's the perfect set-up. There will be nothing like that if they close their doors."