[LabComm] Emergency program for troubled youth another victim of Campbell Liberal cuts

[Miotto, Anita]

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Emergency program for troubled youth another victim of Campbell Liberal
cuts

 

A Vancouver emergency residential program that assists troubled youth in
reuniting with their families will be shutting its doors for good at the
end of August due to the Campbell Liberal cuts, the B.C. Government and
Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) said today.

 

"I'm shocked that the Campbell Liberals would even consider cutting the
funding for Janus Centre, let alone shut it down," said George Heyman,
BCGEU president.  "For over 20 years, Janus Centre has provided
emergency housing, care and counseling for 40 to 50 teenagers every year
who would otherwise have ended up on the streets, in jail, or worse,
dead.

 

"This is a vital community program that unites kids with their families.
And yet Janus Centre is shutting its doors for good, despite Premier
Campbell's hollow promises prior to the election and just last month in
the legislature that his government's first and foremost responsibility
and obligation is to protect B.C.'s children," Heyman said.

 

"This is yet another example of the haphazard and unplanned nature of
the cuts to the Ministry of Children and Family Development."

 

Heyman said, "If the government truly cared about children and families,
it would allocate the resources necessary to ensure programs like Janus
Centre are continued.  Instead, the Campbell Liberals are sacrificing
kids in order to meet their self-imposed budget targets, directly
contradicting their promises prior to the last election."

 

The 12 employees at Janus Centre include child and youth counselors,
cook and custodial attendants.  

 

- 30 -

 

Contact:  Carol Adams, Communications, (604) 291-9611

 

opeiu 378

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bcfed.net/pipermail/labcomm/attachments/20030624/a5ce1c63/attachment.html>