In December 1980 the YWCA made an announcement that they would be closing their downtown child care facility on January 31, 1981.   The parents of children attending that center held a meeting and decided they would have to find alternate child care arrangements.  From this came the idea of forming a parent co-operative Day Care.

In January 1981, a month of meetings and proposals for funding resulted in the approval by the Government of the NWT’s Department of Public Works decision to use their building and the YWCA agreed to loan us their equipment until we could purchase our own. Finally, Canada Community Services provided start-up capital.

On February 1, 1981, the Yellowknife Day Care Association opened its doors on 5019-51st street.

In 2014, we had a meeting with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and learned that our building on 51st street was no longer suitable and could not be renovated. We started looking for another home for our Day Care. In 2015, we hired a Business Consultant who found us land on 52nd street to purchase.

In 2016, we purchased the land and signed a contract with Clark Builders to build our dream Day Care. After completing comprehensive environmental surveys of the lot, we moved onto construction phase.

We broke the ground in June of 2017 and by the end of the year our Day Care was complete. The doors of the newly built Day Care opened on 5121-52nd street on January 2nd, 2018.

Our beautiful new building is a purpose built daycare that meets the national and NWT Child Daycare Building Codes. Our Day Care is now one of a kind in Yellowknife, not just by its programs, but also by its beautiful design and layout. ECE also funded us to purchase educational materials and child-sized furniture which completed our Day Care’s appearance and suitability. Its truly a home away from home for our children.

Not only our address and building have changed, but we also increased our capacity to support more children and families. We are now licensed to have 104 children, including 32 infants, 56 preschoolers and 16 after-school students.  

Many years later, we are still a parent co-operative Day Care guided by a Board of Directors who generously give their time to keep the Association both viable and innovative as times change. 

Families have joined us, grown and left over the years, their children growing from babyhood to making a confident step into the world of junior kindergarten and kindergarten with the guidance of our hard-working staff.  We are proud to be the oldest and longest operating Day Care in Yellowknife.