The nightmare hoarders print shop I took over and made clean and profitable in 6 months has stopped paying me

Hello, this is my first time posting to reddit, so please let me know if I am doing anything wrong or if I have posted in the wrong sub. Thank you.

TLDR: this year has been bs, I took over a print shop from a sketchy carnie and made it work, a 70 year old started a war with our shop and I rolled with it all and made the shop profitable for the first time ever. but now my coworkers have formed a clique and we all have stopped being paid. how should I get my money and run?

2024 had to have been hands down been the most chaotic year for me. in the spring I (25 F) finished school and moved out after my roommate went ballistic and trashed the house we were in, my parents almost died in a car accident, I was repairing/cleaning the house while helping them heal. My Papa passed away the day after my 25th birthday (at least he waited, that day all my final glass projects failed in the kiln and I was cold working the one that survived as he passed, I was at a grinding wheel and listening to the bell like song they made while smoothing an antler cast. It was a peaceful and somber moment and I just knew before the rest of my family) then shortly after my dog, needless to say a rocky spring.

I started my first job out of university, I was taking over for a man who was running a print shop but was part of the carnival circuit so he would leave for the summers, let's call him Carnie from now on. This shop was a hoarders nightmare, the amount of unusable machines and miscellaneous junk from his own life that was in this place was bonkers. I learnt as much as I could in 3 weeks while he was trying to get all his stuff ready to hit the road, this included getting me to de-mouse his food trailer and prepping ride equipment. He was not taking it seriously, messed up on orders and other shinnanigans but told me while he was gone to call anytime. I did ok for the first few weeks trying to teach myself though YouTube, then the machines that had been abused by other users started to give out, we lost our large format vinyl printer and continued on with our smaller one.

One day a month into me being solo I couldn't handle it, I had only a degree in graphic design and advertising not business management but was beating Carnie's sales but I was so beyond overwhelmed because Carnie had ghosted me completely, as well as the owner. That day a girl came in and was perfect, she handled the business stuff and I got to do designs and printing/production. We started to really clean the shop and make sales/products and were a great team.
In August I needed a break so I planned a 2 week road trip in an RV down the western coast of the states with 6 friends and a week before I learnt my BF (25 m) that I had been dating for 7.5 years was being unfaithful to me. I was devastated, but deposits had been paid and my friends didn't know, I had worked so hard to earn this trip and didn't want to give it up so I went. It wasn't the relaxing time I wanted but a good opportunity to process the past few months and what my BF had done, It was a great time with good people minus one of the other guys. I am glad I went! And my coworker handled the shop beautifully.

Once I got home another print shop owner in the town right next to ours - we will call her Petty from now on. She asked me if I would come work for her. I was touched but I had heard not great things about her from the small community, and we ourselves had been trying to fix the reputation that Carnie had left us with. She over all was rude and cranky with her old age and I would basically be doing less than what my own shop provided so I declined as nicely as possible after proposing just merging the two companies. Fast forward to the fall and Petty got bought out and was in a lawsuit with the town, and outsourcing everything to the next province over so I think I dodged a bullet. Then our paper printer was starting to give out, I asked her If I could use hers and she agreed if I taught her how to use it, she had a weaker printer what couldn't even print on cardstock so I had to use her worse paper. I taught her a ton on the software and how to set up her printer for documents, all the good stuff I had to teach myself. I told her to send me what I owed her and didn't hear anything. the owner gave Carnie the boot after he stole some things and my coworker and I found a pile of police evidence in the shop. The owner wanted nothing to do with running the shop finally my coworker and I had this shop at a great place, good clients and we were really making the place profit!

then starting in October things took a turn, Petty asked us to use our paper cutter so we let her but she didn't retain anything that I taught her and had left no bleeds and her type was on the cut margin so we tried to make it work. She was so annoyed but we explained to her how to fix it but shocker, she got Petty and wanted to charge us for things we had no control over so I tried to nicely smooth it over but she blew up and tried to get her best friend to kick my coworker out since she was a tenet. good thing she was a great human and told her that she didn't want anything to do with it. then my coworker decided one day to hire her unstable friend to do sales, this girl was very sweet but couldn't work, she was moody and hardly ever did her job but they became best buddies and started to ice me out. I did my own work in the shop and left them to their own devices because I was there to create and print not babysit adults. when the new girl was gone things were great but when she was there I defiantly noticed a lull in productivity, like going to Ikea one day for shits and giggles without even telling me, they just left. I tried to get the point across but our sales were stronger then ever and we were making the most money to date, so I left it.

Then we all stopped getting paid by the owner, we tried to talk to him but he was dealing with his other business that had issues earlier in the summer, he always changed the topic of conversation and reassured us he was going to. the new girl turns out is related to Petty and poked the bear one day as they were giggling over her Facebook posts, I think Petty is suffering mentally from her age, but she sent her a friend request just to be a little shit and then Petty went into overdrive. December 14th we were at a month with no pay, so I did all I could for our towns light up event and then I got hit with the seasonal cold thanks to the boss and was down and out for days, I missed my boyfriends birthday (yes I am still with him but am so unsure of that still). I came back to work before I was fully well and that day both of my coworkers were trying to get me to confront the boss about our wages and expenses, while also telling me they are quitting because it just isn't worth it. we had worked so hard and got this mans business to the best it has been since it started but everyone was done.

so here I am in the new year, after telling them I am done donating my time until I get paid, both of my coworkers to my knowledge are still working there and haven't been paid either. I am so unsure of what to do now and need advice. I do not think there is anything they can do to convince me to come back, the owner told me to "go ahead and sue, that won't help" then I told him I am done donating my time and once I get paid then we can talk. there has been practically radio silence, nothing at all from the owner and a little holiday wishes from my coworker. but she is still working there and I went to go visit my family up north and just got home.

Is there any advice on how I should proceed forward? I am in Alberta Canada and I am looking at reporting the business but it is just so hard to see what I have dedicated myself to for a year be reduced to this. I just want my wages and expenses as well as my design time paid for roughly $3,500. please let me know the best possible courses of action so I get what I am owed and they can continue on their own destructive paths and I will get my life back on track.

Thank you for reading and for any advice!