Yellowknife day home operator hopes to 'move on' with life after investigation shuts down business for months

Temptation Murefu has spent eight and a half months, and thousands of dollars fighting to keep her Yellowknife day home's licence. 

Now she's trying to move on with her life. 

"It was a hard process," she said. 

The N.W.T.'s department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) suspended the licence for Tempie's Day Home last September following a complaint.

Murefu filed an appeal, which took months to resolve. 

She's only been able to care for four children instead of eight since October, adding a significant financial burden on the family. 

"When someone is closing down, this is what they are feeding their families with," said Murefu. 

Murefu says she feels the investigation process did not give her the opportunity to address the complaints against her. 

The investigation was ultimately resolved. Murefu says she can't discuss the details of the resolution and neither the department nor the minister responsible will offer information. 

Murefu first opened her day home in 2017. 

On Sept. 16, 2022, she received a letter from ECE saying the department had received a complaint. It said the department would be investigating, and as a result she had to cease operations immediately and call parents to ask them to pick up their children as soon as possible. 

"For sure, I was panicking," recalled Murefu. 

Murefu says ECE representatives visited her as part of the investigation, but says she was not given specifics of the complaint against her until later in the process. 

Briony Grabke, a spokesperson for ECE, says how much information is shared with an operator related to a complaint is "specific to each situation."