Yellowknife Women's Society to stop running daycares, new organization expected to take over
Day-to-day functioning expected to be unchanged, says daycare director
Two daycares in the city are expected to be operated under a new organization starting in April, as the Yellowknife Women's Society is stepping away from family programming.
Although the facilities are expected to continue to operate as daycares, the uncertainty comes as access to child care has been an ongoing challenge for parents across the territory.
The Raven's Nest and the Centre for Northern Families Daycare are currently run by the Yellowknife Women's Society, but parents with children at either facility were informed that this wouldn't be the case after March 31, 2025.
In an email, Karen Rawson, the Yellowknife Women's Society daycare director, said the society sent parents a memo informing them of the situation.
"After much careful consideration and in alignment with our current strategic plan, mission and funding structure, the 2023-24 board of directors of the Yellowknife Women's Society has made the difficult decision to discontinue child and family programming," the email read.
"Raven's Nest and Centre for Northern Families will continue under the leadership of a new organization ... We've already started the process of transferring assets and establishing a new organization to manage the daycares."
No other details were provided about what the organization would be.
Rawson said they are in the early stages of determining what's best for the daycares, but the day-to-day functioning will continue unchanged.
Raven's Nest has 16 child-care spaces, while the Centre for Northern Families serves up to 22 children, according to the Yellowknife Women's Society website.
The memo said the society's Family Connections program, which offers support services to women from conception and through the first six years of their child's life, would also no longer be run by the Yellowknife Women's Society. There were no details on what would happen to the program.
The territory has committed to creating 300 new child-care spaces by 2026, and in June officials said they were on track to meet that goal.