Long-promised daycare facility for Dawson City, Yukon, still in limbo | CBC News

The Little Blue Learning Centre in Dawson City, Yukon, is still waiting for an update on its promised new building, a decade after the daycare submitted its first feasibility study to the Yukon government.

The daycare has since done a second feasibility study, two design plans and accompanying cost analyses.

Eight years ago, Klondike MLA Sandy Silver ran for office using Little Blue as a campaign promise. But the project hasn’t moved forward.

Executive director Sue Lancaster took the helm at Little Blue three years ago, with intention to push the issue. Over the past year, she has written every two weeks to request an update, but says she’s still in the dark on the project’s progress.

Last she heard, the Yukon government was working on transferring the former McDonald Lodge site, which Little Blue requested for its new space, but she hasn’t been made aware of an expected deadline for the transfer.

Little Blue building is ‘falling apart,’ 47 kids on waitlist

The daycare facility’s conditions are becoming increasingly dire, Lancaster says.

“It’s a turn-of-the-century house, it’s falling apart, there’s constant leaks and repairs,” Lancaster said. 

Little Blue rents a house that is 126 years old and is showing its age, and the daycare operator is responsible for the ample repair work it requires. The roofs are leaky and patched with wood planks. The furnace is insufficient, and many of the rooms are warmed by individual heaters.

The space is also too small for Dawson City’s needs. There are currently 47 kids on Little Blue’s waitlist, Lancaster says.

Little Blue turned away three doctors and two nurses in the past few months, she says. All five health-care workers were seeking child care for their kids.

“They were coming to Dawson to accept full-time permanent positions, but they couldn’t come because they had no child care for their children,” Lancaster said. “So, we’re losing new members to the community and staff members from essential services.”

New building to be a family services hub

Little Blue is seeking $6 million for the new building’s construction.

The planned facility would be a hub for multiple non-profits serving families, including a youth counsellor, a prenatal program, the Child Development Centre, and two apartment units for staff housing. 

Lancaster said the Yukon government promised the project would move forward if a new feasibility study was completed three years ago. Since then, she has been chasing answers, and isn’t sure if enough funding will be earmarked to complete the project.

Speaking in the legislature on Tuesday last week, Education Minister Jeanie McLean said her department is working on moving the project forward. She pointed to funding doled out since 2021 for the updated feasibility study, and the planning and design of the new building.

“We have a strong interest in supporting the sustainability and growth of our early learning and child care in the Yukon,” McLean said.

A government spokesperson reiterated the department’s commitment to the project in an emailed statement, but was not able to provide further details on the project’s status.

“The Department of Education is actively working with other departments, and Little Blue and the Dawson Society for Children and Families, to support their expansion,” the email said.

“Officials are in regular contact with the Little Blue program, and we will continue to collaborate with them.”