Staff at a daycare in Stony Plain, Alta., say the allegations that led the province to pull its licence were the result of complaints from disgruntled former staff and are not true.

The province has ordered the Stony Day Care Centre to close on July 24. (CBC) "They were obviously very unhappy," Shelby Robinson, the acting director of the Stoney Day Care Centre, said of the former employees. "Instead of just bowing out gracefully, and not dragging their own names through the mud, they decided that they wanted to cause trouble."

The daycare in the town 30 kilometres west of Edmonton will close July 24 after provincial investigators found children were being inappropriately disciplined by biting, shaming and hitting.

Two children were "humiliated as a result of toileting accidents," says the notice cancelling the licence.

Children were also force fed. In one case, a child vomited, and the vomit was mixed into the food, which the child was then forced to eat, says the notice.

A provincial spokesman says the complaint originated from one former employee, but Robinson believes two of them complained — one making up the allegations, the other one confirming them.

"If those women watched something like that happen, why did they stand by and watch for so long?" Robinson said when asked about the vomiting incident. " Why did they take so long to bring it out? It's obviously ridiculous and not true."

Two investigators who visited the daycare on June 21, 22 and 28 confirmed the allegations of non-compliance with provincial child-care legislation.

But a staff member questions the manner in which the investigations were conducted. Provincial inspectors didn't even watch the children during their investigation, the employee said.

The owner of the daycare declined to be interviewed. She intends to appeal the province's decision.

Son teased by staff, parent alleges

While the daycare's staff are speaking out, one parent says she pulled her three-year-old son out of the daycare two weeks ago over concerns about his care.

Melissa Zastrow first noticed problems two months ago when she picked her son up from the daycare. She alleges staff shamed him in front of other children for wetting his pants.

Melissa Zastrow pulled her three-year-old son out of the daycare. (CBC) "I didn't say anything because I still needed a daycare and thought it was just a … single moment, and that wouldn't necessarily portray the rest of his experience there," she said.

Zastrow says police later told her that staff roughly forced her son to sit on the potty.

"I was mortified," she said of the allegations. "These are supposed to be their home away from home. They are supposed to be taking care of our children."

The closure of the daycare prompted mixed reactions from two different groups.

Diane McKean, the vice-chair of the Alberta Child Care Association, says the closure shows the monitoring system for the province's daycares is working.

"A complaint was made," she said. "It was followed through and it's a very disturbing thing to read and again, I'm just really thankful that we have a process in place that protects children."

She added that the government is doing all it can to prevent cases of abuse at daycares.

But advocacy group Public Interest Alberta says the case shows the province needs to do more.

"Unfortunately, Alberta has a very patchwork child-care system," said executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon. "It would appear that the oversight and the management right from government down to the owner of this child-care centre was just not in place."

Moore-Kilgannon wants the government to make accreditation mandatory at daycares in Alberta.