If all goes well, the office providing immigrant and multicultural services in Williams Lake will be able to keep its doors open after all.
Earlier this spring the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society of Prince George decided to close its office in Williams Lake at the end of June due to funding constraints. leaving the local office in limbo.
Eager to make sure the services remain available locally, the Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy took action and is in the process of negotiating an agreement with the federal government, said executive director Shelly Joyner, noting funding from the provincial government is already solidified.
“The federal government is committed, we just haven’t signed anything yet,” Joyner told the Tribune this week.
With the renewed funding, the office will continue having Sue Nelson on staff teaching language classes, a child minder and a settlement navigator.
“We will in theory take over on July 1,” Joyner said.
“We are hoping to maintain the same space at 118C North First Avenue, although the Prince George organization will be coming in to take back all of its materials to their office in Prince George.”
During the summer the language classes are not normally offered, and will wrap up on June 26, and resume after Labour Day, Nelson said.
When news of the office’s closure was made public, many people came to the table wanting to help.
Joyner said in response, the Cariboo-Chilcotin Partners for Literacy has tried to honour the learners and the community’s ideas as it negotiates an agreement with the federal government.
