REGINA - A skills training centre for at risk young adults in Regina is seeking answers on why they aren’t getting full funding by the provincial government.
A delegation from Ignite Adult Learning Corporation were at the Legislature Wednesday, advocating for the restoration of funding to the organization so they can keep operating.
The story, according to Ignite officials and the opposition New Democrats, is that Ignite has been getting the runaround from officials, having to shop around for support from various ministries for the funding they need to stay afloat.
The NDP’s Nicole Sarauer said the delegation from Ignite was there to meet the Minister responsible for Immigration and Career Training, Jim Reiter.
“I understand the Minister of ICT (Reiter) said that he was going to have his officials reach out to them later. It's not good enough. We've seen other ministers today offer to meet with stakeholders, with vulnerable people, with individuals who came to the gallery today to get answers. There's no reason why the folks of Ignite shouldn't be receiving the exact same treatment. They've been talking to officials. They're done talking to officials. They want to talk to ministers.”
Tanya McNeice, Ignite board chair and a past student, said the situation is “heartbreaking because I get to sit back and watch cuts happen that are going to impact so many lives, generation after generation, where the education and the wraparound services that are provided by Ignite are going to have people literally dying on the street. Homeless, foodlessness, all of the things that we have the opportunity to help people grow and develop themselves into supplying for themselves. We have a proven record for over 30 years of showing how we can help people become the best selves that they are, taxpaying citizens that give back to the community and stop having to rely so much on the system to exist.”
The message they were sending, McNeice said, was to have people understand the impact this is going to have. She again reiterated they were “done” talking to the officials and wanted the minister involved directly.
“We've got some great advocates that have been really working hard and supporting us as best as they can, but they can only do so much without the minister stepping in and saying, this is what's important and we're not going to let this slide.”
Earlier, Reiter spoke to reporters on the situation and said that what he had been told by ministry officials was they had been looking at having discussions about the contract with Ignite.
“Then I was told that Ignite informed them they were going to be winding down operations,” said Reiter. “So that was my understanding of it, but if that’s not the case certainly officials are prepared to meet with the senior folks, the executive folks about a contract going forward.”
Reiter said they were doing lots of work in the area of workforce training and believes there was a “miscommunication” with the ministry.
“My understanding is that before any of those discussions could happen that (the minister) were informed they were winding down. If they are saying it’s otherwise and there’s miscommunication between the two groups the best thing that could happen is I’ll have our senior folks meet with them and see how this looks like.”
Dellice Saxby, executive director at Ignite, indicated to reporters there was more to the issue than a miscommunication.
“So what (Reiter) was referring to is that he is wanting to make it really clear that ICT hasn't gotten rid of our funding completely. They are offering us $250,000 for the year. We need $940,000 to run the place. Last year we got $580,000. So we knew coming into this spring that we were not going to get the same amount of funding from ICT.”
Saxby said because they knew they were going to see a cut from ICT, they had gone to other ministries including Social Services and Justice to make up the shortfall.
“We weren't getting any money from anywhere. And I cannot run a $940,000 program on $250,000.” She accused the minister of "intentionally trying to obscure the issue."
When asked about those concerns, Reiter said “that’s fair, and that’s why I think it’s important to have the discussion.”
“If funding can be worked out, that would be great, but again our ministry folks, they have to look at the parameters. They have to compare it to what they’re funding other organizations. So they have to be reasonable and fair with how they’re funding everyone. This needs to be discussed at a boardroom table with the appropriate people there.”
