Funds Needed For Northern Civil Liberties Office
Saturday, January 21, 2012 @ 5:16 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is pressing ahead with plans to open an office in Prince George this year. However the major obstacle to success is a common one: funding.
The association announced plans last July to set up a volunteer chapter in Prince George, selecting the northern capital city as the first stop in its outreach effort because of a disproportionate number of civil liberties issues here. The BCCLA specifically cites concerns about repeated issues involving the RCMP. The office will be volunteer run, consisting of lawyers, activists, teachers and others interested in human rights and civil liberties issues.
Heather Elliott is handling the association’s information dissemination in Prince George. “The most pressing challenge” she says, “is securing financing to operate the office. It is possible funds could be found in the form of a community grant. We’ve done some fundraising with community partners, service groups and local law offices but need more money to get the project off the ground.” Elliott says the association is considering renting community centre office space in the VLA should the funding be secured. She says the association is meeting every two weeks at the Civic Centre under a contract that runs until the end of March. She hopes the office space question can be answered by then.
In the meantime Elliott says there has been “positive feedback from people wanting to volunteer their time, those with human advocacy experience. Hundreds, no, volunteers are hard to come by.” But they’re still hearing from people who are very interested in the establishment of a civil liberties office serving an area which has had a large number of cases alleging human rights abuses in recent years.
Comments
Well, I took a long look at what this outfit does. While there is some good, they also seem to chase a lot of tails,
so, in all, no thanks.
But hey, don’t listen to me, go check out their website for yourself.
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