Editor:
The RCMP Victim Services Program has been serving the community of Ladysmith since 1989.
Our police-based Victim Services co-ordinator is tremendously dedicated and puts her heart and soul into the program, providing exemplary services to Ladysmith, Electoral Areas G and H, as well as a portion of the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN), and the First Nation communities in this area.
Contrary to what people may have heard, we did not experience financial cutbacks from the Town of Ladysmith Grants-in-Aid program this year. This year’s funding is consistent with previous years and is very much appreciated by the Resources Centre.
The Ladysmith Resources Centre Association (LRCA) holds and administers the Provincial contract for the Ladysmith police-based Victim Services Program.
Through the BC Ministry of Justice, under the terms of the contract, there are established funding obligations around cost-sharing for the delivery of the program. Our Victim Services Program falls short of those expectations. In order to address this issue, we have requested support from Areas G and H, the Cowichan Valley Regional District, and the Penelakut and Stz’uminus First Nations.
We will continue providing our current level of service at this time, but increased demands are making this difficult. We may have to restructure our service delivery if additional funding is not secured, and this may impact the 24-hour on-call service, as well as some ongoing court support service.
We will continue working on funding opportunities to determine how we can achieve ongoing stability for the LRCA police-based Victim Services.
Dennis Lait
Executive Director
Ladysmith Resources Centre
Association