Funding is tied to the economy

By Dan Hilborn
Published March 10, 2004


The economy will have to improve before the provincial government can restore funding for the Marguerite Dixon transition house counselling program for children who witness their mothers being abused, Burnaby North MLA Richard Lee told the Burnaby Now last week.

In the meantime, four similar programs that are offered through other service providers in the North Fraser region will have to suffice, Lee said.

"Some of the services are still there in many locations," Lee said when asked to comment on the loss of the children's counselling service detailed in the Norburn Interagency impact statement report card and described in the March 3 Burnaby Now.

"Everywhere should have that kind of service," Lee said. "So, when the economy improves and we get more resources, some of the services I'd like to see more of in B.C."

Lee also said the provincial government has maintained $33 million in funding for transition houses, and noted that more than 20,000 women and their children in B.C. received shelter and counselling from the province last year.

But Adele Wilson, executive director of the Burnaby transition house, said children and their mothers could be put at risk if they are forced to travel to a counsellor during the first 30 days after they flee an abusive relationship.

"In a transition house, these families are hiding and to get out into the community sometimes is not possible," said Wilson. "These counsellors we had were in-house - they were there all the time.

"These (counsellors) are people who can take the kids when their mothers need a break, and when they see a child acting out, they stop it on the spot and address the issue," Wilson said.

She also noted that 30 days after coming to the transition house, mothers and their children are moved into the second- stage program and, at that point, offsite counselling services are adequate.

Wilson also repeated her complaint that the effects of inflation mean that the zero per cent funding increase for the transition house actually translates into a reduction in services.

However, Lee also said that he believes the government has now finished its program of cutbacks and may begin to restore funding for some of the services that were reduced over the past two years.

"I believe all the restructuring has been done already and there will be no more cuts in the coming year - that's what I heard," Lee said. "And, actually, the case load for families in care is dropping, and that's why some of the services may not be as needed as before.

Lee also said that there are some new services being provided for communities outside the Lower Mainland. For instance, he said the province recently opened a safe house for exploited female youths in Kelowna. "That's why some of the funding is being reallocated," he said. "We have convenience here in the Lower Mainland, and going to Vancouver or New Westminster is not too far away. Government sometimes has to make that judgment of where to provide the service."

He also pointed to a variety of other services provided by government such as the $150 million budgeted for housing and a $36- million funding increase for First Nations programs. And while the allocation of provincial funding has changed substantially in the past two years, Lee said there are many local non-profit agencies that still receive government funding.

For instance, he noted the Meals on Wheels program in North Burnaby recently received a commitment for $175,000 in direct access funding, and the McCreary Centre Society received a grant of $1 million for youth health education and research. In total, Burnaby groups received over $7 million from the direct access funding program last year, Lee said.

A local program:
On Monday evening, Lee left a telephone message at the Burnaby Now explaining that he had just discovered that one of the Lower Mainland's four remaining counselling programs for children who have witnessed their mothers being abused is located in the 4900 block of Kingsway, in Burnaby.

Correction: A spokesperson for the Ministry of Human Resources called this week to clarify that the government will not reduce social assistance benefits by $100 per family member, as listed in the March 3 story 'Nearly one-quarter live below poverty line.' In late January, after the impact report was originally published, the government announced that it would continue to pay full benefits to anyone who continues to look for work, attends training programs and does not refuse to work.