SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - It's been almost two months since the Northern Tikes Association child care centre closed, and a number of former employees have yet to receive their final pay cheques.

Miriam Boychuck is still waiting for her pay cheque from the Northern Tikes daycare nearly two months after it closed its doors due to financial reasons. - Charlotte Hilling/NNSL photo

One of the centre's former employees Miriam Boychuck - who is seven months pregnant - is one of those people. She's had to apply for employment insurance and take her maternity leave early to survive financially.

Originally from Edmonton, Alta., Boychuck came to Yellowknife for work last January. She and her partner are frantically trying to acquire her final pay cheque, vacation pay and record of employment before they fly back to Edmonton today.

"We're leaving (today) and I still haven't got my cheque from them. I told them, you know, get everything together, I need my record of employment. That is something that I need and I still haven't gotten it from them," she said earlier this week.

The child care centre officially closed its doors on June 26 and Boychuck said the employees were promised their final pay cheques the following Friday.

Estimating she is owed about $2,000, she said she has relentlessly tried to contact Northern Tikes Association president Roberta Blake without much success.

"I've been continuously calling them, and I've been asking them what's the news on my record of employment and what's the news on my cheque?" she said.

"Nobody's tried contacting me. I've given them my number, I've given Roberta Blake my number several times, and she has never once returned my phone call."

After a consultation with the Public Service Labour Relations Board, Boychuck said she was told not to expect payment until the centre was declared bankrupt.

"I'm not optimistic at all. I don't think I'm going to be getting anything anytime soon," she said.

Boychuck said she thinks the centre failed due to "poor finances."

"The daycare was full, there were workers, it's just, the bills weren't being paid on time, the paperwork wasn't being done, the receipts for parents weren't kept up to date."

Blake told Yellowknifer she will not know what went wrong until the results of an ongoing financial audit are complete.

Blake said some former employees have received their pay cheques and others have not, but she said she was unable to say how many people have been paid.

When asked why a resolution has taken so long, she said "there's no money. The financial status is exactly the same as it was when we shut down, we're pending the completion of our audit."

Blake said the centre thought it would be possible to settle the wages of its employees, but events such as delayed invoices and being unable to track people down due to summer absences have caused problems.

"When we were preparing for close we planned to have that money in place, everything had been arranged, there were problems, and it got held up," she said.

Blake said she did not know when the financial audit will be complete, but she expects the centre to be bankrupt.

However, she said the staff's records of employment were ready and would be posted within a week.

When asked about the centre's perceived lack of communication, Blake said she had been answering calls.

"I know how much my phone has rang. I don't know about anyone else on the board ... I can understand people being frustrated. I have returned phone calls," she said.