Salmo’s victim services worker will temporarily look after Castlegar after the local co-ordinator leaves this week.
RCMP Sgt. Monty Taylor reported to city council on Tuesday that both of the local unit’s positions will be vacant as of Friday.
The program is made up of two part-time positions, one of which has been mostly vacant for a year and a half. While the co-ordinator picked up some of the slack, she has now given her notice.
Taylor said Diana Gonzales of Salmo will provide 15 hours a week to Castlegar: one day in person and the rest remotely until the position or positions can be filled.
“I’m working on modernizing the program a bit to make it work better for us and the community as well,” Taylor said.
“This is an absolutely incredible need in this community,” said councillor Cherryl MacLeod, who works as a child and youth care worker at Robson school.
“I have people who have been trying to access that service for a while. It’s sad when the service was hit-and-miss or it’s not there at all except this person coming one day a week.
“We need to be looking after our most vulnerable. They’ve seen something they would need to use that service for. If it’s not there, or they’re told it’s not there, that’s not okay.”
Taylor agreed victim services plays an important though not always high profile role, and encouraged people to continue to contact them to access the interim service from Salmo.
He said he wants stability in the program, but finding replacements for the positions is challenging partly because the required criminal record checks take 22 to 25 weeks to complete.
MacLeod asked if it would be easier to have a single full-time position. Taylor agreed it would.
“It’s tough to find someone with that skill set who is able to work only 18 or 22 hours a week,” he said. “It’s tough to juggle two part-time positions so you can have coverage and line up their schedules. It’s not fair to them either. A lot of times they have other employment.”
Taylor says while people have shown interest in the vacant position, they look elsewhere when they find out it’s only 18 hours per week. In one case a potential applicant found other employment while waiting for the criminal record check to be completed.
Funding is key to making the position full-time, he said. The Ministry of Justice provides about $52,000 per year for the program while the City of Castlegar provides $22,800. A contribution equal to the ministry’s share would let them to hire a single person full time plus a second person for eight hours per week, he said.
The program is administered through Castlegar and District Community Services, but RCMP have a say in hiring.
Taylor said in some places, victim services workers are municipal employees. Although the local unit serves the RCMP’s entire catchment area, including RDCK rural electoral areas I and J, the regional district does not pay into the program.
Taylor said he hopes to return to council soon with suggestions for restructuring the program.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Taylor’s presentation to council was on Monday.
