The parents of children who attend a Halifax daycare are reeling after they learned the centre is being evicted.
The developer of the old Saint Patrick's-Alexandra school dropped the bombshell announcement Monday and informed parents that the Saint Joseph's Children's Centre has 22 days to find a new home.
Parents met with daycare staff late Tuesday afternoon and were told the centre will be relocating and likely shutting down for a period of time.
This has left parents worrying about their childcare options. Many of these daycare spaces are subsidized, which makes it even more difficult to find some kind of alternative.
"I'm really disappointed that they're closing within a month and there are not many options around here," says parent Grace Flores.
The daycare staff say they didn't see it coming, but city officials have made it clear that the staff were warned and had already been granted extensions on their lease.
"At all times we've be transparent with them, clear with them," says Richard Butts, Chief Administrative Officer of the city of Halifax. "…We were accommodating them to be good community partners, but at the end of the day, we require that space free and clear."
On the other hand, former basketball coach and lawyer Peter Greene, says the eviction is just one more example of how Halifax council has dropped the ball with the planned redevelopment of the Saint Patrick's-Alexandra school site.
"The case of the Saint Joseph's daycare centre is quite outrageous," says Greene. "They've been a tenant here for 34 years."
Whether or not the daycare was given adequate notice, the impending eviction seems to have caught the community by surprise.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw
