GERRY CHIDIAC SUGGESTS SOME WAYS TO WEATHER THIS WINTER – PAGE 9 NATHAN GIEDE BELIEVES THE TREATMENT WILL OUTLIVE THE VIRUS – PAGE 11
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Thursday, December 10, 2020
PGCITIZEN.CA
PRINCEGEORGECITIZEN
UNBC refutes dismissal charges MARK NIELSEN Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
UNBC is denying a former employee’s claim that she was wrongfully dismissed because she blew the whistle on alleged improper conduct by upper management.
we’ve had to reduce it to six rooms and within that we would also do double bunking and during the pandemic we were unable to do that so our capacity was reduced to six rooms so that means six women and their children or if a mother and adult daughter came in,” Bassi explained. “So looking at what we had in a 17-bed shelter that was decreased somewhat because we could only single bunk people.”
In a response filed November 19 at the Prince George courthouse, UNBC says Heather Sanford was let go as the university secretary on March 13 to help deal with a $3.5 million budget shortfall at the university. UNBC says Sanford’s position was being covered through “soft funding” and because of that, the position was being held on a “term basis” through a series of contracts, the last of which was set to expire at the end of June. In a statement of claim filed in October, Sanford says had been dismissed because she had “blown the whistle” on how various matters related to the Board of Governors were handled, notably a salary increase for UNBC’s then-president Daniel Weeks and terms of separation for then-vice president of finance Barb Daigle. “The Plaintiff essentially claims that her employment was terminated because she was critical of how UNBC discharged its administrative and governance functions,” UNBC says.
See ITS ABOUT SURVIVAL on page 4
See NO OVERSIGHT on page 4
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE/LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE.
TIS THE SEASON A holiday light display lights up the night at 6070 Buckhorn Lake Road.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN GROWING DURING PANDEMIC CHRISTINE HINZMANN Citizen staff
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the world, a local women’s shelter is feeling the effects, as there is an increase in violence and its severity against women and children in Canada.
A recent national survey conducted by Women’s Shelters Canada saw 52 per cent of 266 participating shelters report seeing clients who were experiencing somewhat
or much more severe violence as public health protocols continue to increase social isolation while job loss causes increased tension in many homes. In Prince George, the Elizabeth Fry Society has seen numbers ebb and flow in the use of its transition house during the pandemic, Bally Bassi, community, social and justice programs manager of the Prince George and District Elizabeth Fry Society, said. “We are a 17-bed transition house and