Whitehorse daycare shuts down on 'extremely short notice'

A Whitehorse daycare closed suddenly this week,leaving parents scrambling to find new spaces and asking for a refund.

Molly Keizer's20-month-old son was one of 50 children enrolled at the Cheeky Monkeys daycare, on Baxter Street. She says she got a call after 3 p.m. lastFriday.

"'It was a speaker-phone call with theowner of the daycare, and a government worker from Child Services. They told me that effective immediately, the daycare was closing and we no longer had childcare," Keizersaid.

She says the owner didn't provide a reason.

"I asked why, and the owner said she was just done with it," Keizer said. "She didn't really give specifics."

Keizer says that during the call, the Yukon government employee reassured her thatthe closure had nothing to do with safety concerns, and thatthe"children were not in any jeopardy whatsoever."

Keizer was paying about $850 a month in fees. She says her husband later asked the owner for a partial refund and was denied.

"I wonder about the legality of just closing the daycare and taking everyone's money and leaving them high-and-dry with no childcare. That seems oddto me, and I wonder what actually happened," she said.

'The CRA came after me,' owner says

The daycare's owner, Andi Worden, told CBCthat her business problemsstarted with "bad book-keeping" that was eventually discovered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

"When the bad book-keeping was caught, the CRA came after me," she said.

According to Worden, she had been working with the CRA on a payment plan since the summer, but by the end of last weekshe was told "they weren't going to work with me." That's when Wordentold parents herfacility was closing.

"It was pretty much my only choice.I got backed into a corner and that was all I could do," she said.

"Had I known this was going down, I would have closed long before and given everyone proper notice ... I realize I've got some angry staff, I've got some angry parents."

Worden says she can't pay employees or refund parents because the CRA has frozen her bank accounts. She's now hoping to work with others to help them try to opena new daycare, under new management.

She would not say how much money is owed to the CRA.

'No issue with care' says Yukon government

Pat Living, a spokesperson for Yukon's department of Health and Social Services, reiterated the department had no concerns over health or safety at the facility.

"Thechildren were never in any danger, there was no issue with the quality of care," Livingsaid.

The decision to close was announced as permanent, and the daycare has lost its business licence. To re-open, the ownerswould need to reapply for a licence as though it werea new business.

The territorial government will now updateits public list of daycares, scrubbing Cheeky Monkeys from the list.

Living says that Yukon's department ofChildcare Services has been helping affected parents find new spaces.

"Given this was extremely short notice, we did the calling around," she said."We have found enough spaces to cover."

Parents can call 1-867-667-3492 to speak with someone at the department who can refer to daycares with available spaces.