Yk Family Centre needs new home
Program organizers told to vacate space on 50 Street by SideDoor Youth Ministries
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Parents who use the Yellowknife Family Centre are hoping the organization can find a new home after it was told last week to leave its space above the SideDoor Resource Centre downtown.
Rosie Benning, left, with her daughter Aisha Benning, 4, and Paxton Jeffery, 3, with his mother Julia Jeffery, have fun Tuesday morning with Play-Doh at the Yellowknife Family Centre. The centre has been told to vacate the space by the end of the month. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
The centre offered families with children from birth to age five a place to socialize and take part in programs like a toy lending library. More than 400 families accessed the service in some form last year.
On May 31, it the group was told it had 30 days to leave the space it has occupied for 11 years above SideDoor on 50 Street, throwing the future of the program into question.
"It was a total surprise," said Claudia Parker, superintendent of Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS). The school district administers the program.
Carla Kinakin, a mother of two, has used the service and hopes it can reopen elsewhere.
"Becoming a parent for the first time away from your family, it's so nice to have a place where you can go where you can feel welcome, where everyone can understand what you're going through and all of a sudden your kids have friends they never would have had any other way," she said Friday after learning the centre would close to families today.
Rosie Benning echoed that view, saying it was an invaluable resource to become a better parent in a city where she didn't have any family.
The centre operates based on the school calendar and normally closes for the summer. This year it is closing early to pack and move out.
"Due to circumstances beyond our control we will be closing the centre earlier than usual," states an e-mail from co-ordinator Kerri Nolting sent to parents Thursday. It did not elaborate on the reason for the notice.
No one from SideDoor Youth Ministries reached Monday could comment about the issue. Executive Director Iris Hamlym is away this week.
The family centre was run by two YCS staff members and funded by the federal and territorial governments.
For the last fiscal year, the centre received $182,000 from the Public Health Agency of Canada and $67,000 from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. It paid approximately $71,000 per year to rent the space from SideDoor, according to YCS Assistant Superintendent Janet Toner.
The centre's lease had expired in 2013, though the sides were working to reach a new agreement, Toner said.
What will happen to the centre is unclear. The issue will be raised at the YCS board of trustees meeting June 15.
"Right now we're just exploring what other spaces are available in the city that perhaps we can lease. We're just in the research stages right now," Toner said.
The centre began at the Weledeh Catholic School before moving to its current location. Parker said the schools she administers don't have space for the program.
