By Kathy Olson
Women seeking work in Centretown have one less place to turn to as of March 31.
The Women’s Career Counselling Centre on Catherine Street has helped women look for work since 1974. It’s closing because its funding has been cut.
The centre stopped accepting clients in January after the last funding extension from Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).
But, there will be no more extensions and the staff is busy packing up instead of helping clients.
“Some women are crying on the phone when they find out there isn’t anything for them,” says Monique Glamdon, counsellor and co-ordinator at the centre. Glamdon says the hardest part is not being able to help them.
There is nowhere else to refer them because all counselling services are facing the same funding cuts.
When Anneliese Jamnik, 49, tried to return to the work force three years ago, she found there was little in the education field for her.
She says the centre gave her the knowledge and the confidence she needed to start looking for work again.
“It opened up my eyes,” says Jamnik. “I realized I’m not the only one approaching 50 returning to the work force.”
She says she learned how to update her résumé and prepare herself to meet with employers in today’s job market.
She is disappointed the centre is closing because she says women like herself, who are not eligible for employment insurance, will suffer.
Other counselling services deal mainly with employment insurance recipients, but 70 per cent of the centre’s clients are not.
The centre had a diverse client base, ranging from recent graduates and new immigrants to homemakers and professionals returning to the workforce.
HRDC funded the centre under a program called Outreach, but in May 1996 Outreach was eliminated.
At the same time, funding for community-run employment services were cut.
The changes are part of a major restructuring of the department that began several years ago.
Since the cuts, the centre has been kept open through temporary funding from HRDC, but the last payment came in December.
They used the extra time to try and save the centre.
Last year, Tescult Eduplus, a consulting company, took over the centre’s counselling services.
Michelle Moran, a spokesperson for HRDC, says Tescult Eduplus is a satisfactory service and she has not received any complaints from women who cannot find counselling.
“Employment counselling is available to all Canadians,” says Moran.
“They are all entitled to federal counselling through Tescult.”
Glamdon disagrees. She says Tescult Eduplus can’t even begin to replace the kind of service the centre offered.
She says women will have a much harder time getting an appointment at Tescult Eduplus because of a referral -only policy, and if they do get counselling it will only be for a couple of hours.