First-time mom Jana Nyland put her son, Lennon, in what she thought was a safe, loving and welcoming daycare in September 2021.
Bajwa’s Childcare in Saskatoon is a licensed day home for children in Saskatoon, and Nyland had the business recommended to her and saw it on social media pages.
She went for a tour, asked lots of questions and the kids in the daycare seemed happy to her.
Lennon was six months old at the time and Nyland said there were no issues with owner Irum Noureen — until what she calls red flags started to pop up at the end of August.
“She started becoming obsessive with my son, she wanted to keep him longer after hours in the evenings and she would call when we’re at home asking to speak to him when he’s going to bed, she liked to keep him on the weekends and she said she would babysit for free,” said Nyland.
However, she says the red flags did not stop there.
“She’s not fit to be taking care of children,” Nyland said.
“She was telling Lennon, or asking him to call her mom and I heard that one day picking him up after daycare and I said, ‘No, that’s not acceptable,” she said. “It’s overstepping boundaries completely.”
Nyland said she expressed her concerns and claims the child-care provider disregarded her.
“‘Oh, well, I’m like a second mom to him’ she would say. ‘It’s OK if he calls me momma,’ like she just completely disregarded my feelings towards it,” Nyland said.
Nyland continued, saying that if the behaviour continued, then she would take Lennon out of the daycare. She said the daycare provider did not like the ultimatum.
Come Sept. 10, Nyland picked up Lennon from Bajwa’s Childcare and realized that her son had his first haircut without her permission.
“I asked her why she had done that and she said she doesn’t like long hair on boys and that native boys should not have long hair…. I was furious,” said Nyland.
Nyland said her family is Métis and to them, hair has spiritual and cultural significance.
Nearly three inches of Lennon’s hair was cut off, but luckily Nyland was able to get the hair back after making another trip to the daycare.
Lennon was taken out of the child care immediately after.
Two days later on Sept. 12, Nyland filed a report with the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS), alleging the hate crime of cutting her son’s hair with racist and discriminatory intent.
In a written statement, SPS said, “Our Hate Crimes Unit is investigating a recent report filed against a child care service provider in Saskatoon. The report was made on September 12, 2022 and at this time remains under investigation.”
Nyland said hundreds of people have reached out to her with support, and there have been other people reaching out to share their experiences as well.
Bajwa’s Childcare was in contact with Global News and confirmed Noureen did cut Lennon’s hair but declined to do an interview for the story.
Nyland said she will be cautious when deciding where Lennon goes next, adding she has lost trust in daycares.
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