CUTS KILL WOMEN'S TREATMENT CENTRE

The Belaire Women's Recovery Centre will close Nov. 23, another victim of
government cutbacks.

The 10-bed house has treated women recovering from drug and alcohol
addiction for 14 years.

"We are all devastated by this," said Belaire board president Micki Smith.
"We never thought we would have to make this decision.

"We are now committed to making sure no one is put out on the street. We
will assist them to find places in other facilities."

The Belaire House problems go back to 1996 when employees certified with
the B.C. Government Employees Union.

"However, as Belaire did not have the financial capacity to negotiate a
collective agreement it was not pursued at that time," said a media release
from Belaire. "In 2000, the board was advised by representatives from the
Community Social Services Employers Association and the BCGEU that the only
way staff could be paid fair wages as proposed in the Donald Monroe
recommendations (on social worker pay) was through a collective agreement."

Smith said that in keeping with the recommendations, the board agreed to
raise the pay from $8.50 per hour to $16, with assurances from the Ministry
of Human Resources to fund the pay increase.

"Since the provincial government has reneged on its commitment to provide
100 per cent of the costs associated with the agreement, Belaire is unable
to meet its financial obligations and must close," said Smith.

She said the 10 part-time and full-time employees can only be paid $10 an
hour, leaving a shortfall of $7,500 a month.

"We knew we would have to do fund-raising, but there is no way we can raise
that much," said Smith. "At $8.50, no one was pretending that the employees
were being paid fairly."

House manager Paula Kleiman said the closure will create a wider gap for
women seeking help from addiction.

"We've had a waiting list as high as 25 or 30," she said.

"There have been only a couple of periods since I've been here that there
have been empty beds."

Smith said the house would probably be sold, hopefully to a group that
could continue to use it as a treatment facility.

"None of us have been through this before," she said. "We're just taking it
one step at a time."