Vancouver daycare avoids eviction from church hall — but only until year's end

The long-running arrangement between an east Vancouver daycare and its church landlord nearly ended with an abrupt closure of the daycare’s doors this week. Instead, it got a five-month reprieve. Montessori World Daycare and the Russian Orthodox Church that owns the hall where it operates were due in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday. The daycare [...]

Instead, it got a five-month reprieve. Montessori World Daycare and the Russian Orthodox Church that owns the hall where it operates were due in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday. The daycare wanted a judge to issue an injunction to stop the church from changing the locks — which the church had said it would do at 5 p.m. Friday.

It never came to that. During the hearing, the daycare’s lawyer passed a note to the court clerk: The two sides had reached a deal, one that lets the daycare keep its doors open through December. B.C. has added child-care spaces in recent years but still falls short of the federal target for how many should be available, according to a January report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Even where provinces are keeping up, it found, “parents will continue to experience long waitlists and frustration in trying to find a spot.” Montessori World Daycare serves 37 families. For most of two decades, the daycare and the church got along.

That changed this year, when the church began accusing the daycare of breaching their agreement — which the daycare denies. None of these claims have been tested in court. Thomas Falcone, the daycare’s lawyer, said the two sides had reached an arrangement and that the daycare would stay put for now.

That was the only statement he would give. The church’s lawyer, Simon Lin, said he had no comment. Both sides have filed competing affidavits and legal arguments.

Much of the daycare’s account comes from a sworn affidavit by its principal, Jelena Milenkovic, who was not available for a comment Friday. The church’s response disputes it point by point. The daycare operates at 75 East 43rd Ave.

Court filings say Milenkovic, a certified Montessori teacher, has run a Montessori operation there since 2003 and incorporated her company in 2007. She said the agreement, signed that year, was later extended to 2030. The church argues the daycare owes over $19,000 in property taxes tied to its commercial use of the hall; that the agreement was improperly transferred from Milenkovic to her company without the church’s written consent; and that Milenkovic broke its terms by extending her hours and shifting from a preschool to a daycare.

The church also argues the document is a licence, not a lease — a distinction it says gives the daycare no standing to bring the case — and that Milenkovic “misrepresents” it to the court. It says it offered an orderly transition that she did not take up, and that other daycare spaces are available nearby. The daycare argues the tax clause covers GST, not property taxes, and that nearly 20 years of dealings amount to the church’s consent.

It says being shut out would cause irreparable harm to its business, its staff and the families it serves. On July 10, the church taped a termination notice to the daycare’s door, giving it until 5 p.m. on July 17 to clear out. The daycare went to court to stop it.

Friday’s deal heads off that deadline but settles none of the underlying dispute, at least publicly. What happens after December — and the full terms of the arrangement — is not clear.