[LabComm] BCGEU: Campbell Liberals are slamming the doors shut on women

[Adams, Carol]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Campbell Liberals are slamming the doors shut on women

The Campbell Liberals have sunk to an-all time low by cutting core
funding for B.C.'s 37 women's centres, the B.C. Government and Service
Employees' Union (BCGEU) said today.

"Since the day they took office, the Campbell Liberals have continued to
cut or reduce vital services to women, including child care subsidies,
welfare, legal aid, 24-hour rape crisis lines, victim's assistance,
Pharmacare, specialized job training for women who have suffered abuse,
and much more," said George Heyman, BCGEU president. "But to cut women's
centres core funding - that's an all-time low, even for this government.

"Today, the Campbell Liberals aren't just closing the doors on women,
they're slamming it shut," Heyman said.

Heyman called on the government to divert some of the money that's being
spent on costly ad campaigns to help the over 300,000 women and girls
who receive direct services from women's centres each year.

"The $1.7 million needed to keep women's centres in our communities is a
drop in the bucket when compared to the millions the Campbell Liberals
are spending on new logos or ads to convince us what a great job they're
doing on health care. It's less than the amount of fines this government
forgave fish farm operators for violating the terms of their licences,"
Heyman said.

"Surely women who are fleeing abusive homes, who have been cut off
welfare and have no way to feed themselves or their children, or who are
at wit's end because so many services have been cut, are worth the
government foregoing a few weeks of slick television ads."

As of April 1, the provincial government will no longer provide core
funding to women's centres in B.C. This amounts to about $47,000 a year
for each of the 37 women's centres, or a total of $1.7 million. The cost
translates into just over $5 per woman helped by a women's centre, or 91
cents for every woman and girl in the province, according to the B.C.
Coalition of Women's Centres.

Women's centres provide a wide range of services, including information
and referrals, support groups, crisis counselling, job entry programs,
legal aid workshops, child care services, housing registries, stopping
violence against women, clothing exchanges, food programs, and advocacy.

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Contact: Carol Adams, (604) 291-9611

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