Daycare in southwest Edmonton shuts down after allegations of physical abuse

Daycare shut down after abuse allegations A south Edmonton daycare was shut down by the government after an investigation discovered physical abuse allegations.

The provincial government has revoked the license of a southwest Edmonton daycare after an investigation found that toddlers were allegedly physically abused by two staff members.

The government began to investigate the Generations Kindergarten on May 5 after a complainant alleged that the daycare’s staff:child ratio was not maintained and there was not enough supervision while children walked around the neighbourhood with caregivers.

The daycare had its license suspended and was put on probation, and during an unannounced visit on May 25, the Ministry of Children’s Services received new shocking accusations:

None of the allegations have been proven.

The daycare officially closed on Friday.

“I got my wife’s call saying, ‘Hey, everybody’s crying here. They’re just gonna close the daycare,” Luis Zapata said, whose two kids go to the Generations Kindergarten.

Zapata told CTV News he knew the facility could potentially lose its license because issues found at previous inspections, but he believes the accusations of abuse sealed the daycare’s fate.

“This was the straw the broke the camel’s back,” Zapata said. “This problem added to the other problems probably that were brought from the past. Put all of this together and I guess the government, it was time to put hands on this in a harder way.”

Other inspection visit summaries from the investigation include more issues.

During one unannounced visit, inspectors said they observed more than  a dozen incidents of kids fighting, crying and hitting each other. The report alleges that staff members were ineffective at managing these situations. Another surprise visit suggested kids were not given water, sunscreen or hats during a warm day.

Prabhjit Sahnan, the owner of the daycare, declined an interview with CTV News but sent the following statement:

“As a family run business that has been operating successfully for the past 8 years, we have always been committed to ensuring that child safety is of paramount significance. While we had been attempting resolve any outstanding concerns of the relevant regulatory bodies, at this time, our first priority is working with the families that have trusted us for the past 8 years to help them find alternative arrangements and to minimize the impact of the decision by Child Care Services to not reinstate our licence .We apologize to the parents and children of Generations Kindergarten & Nursery for the inconvenience this has caused them. We encourage any parents impacted to contact us directly if we can be of any further assistance.”

The out-of-school program is on a separate license and will stay open, a government official told CTV News.

With files from Angela Jung