[Bcma-l] Summer Student funding confirmation delay
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
Wed, 14 May 2008 16:13:44 -0700
Jordana;
On the contrary, the BCMA has been very active on this front.
Each spring as program applications are invited and deadlines are
announced, BCMA now receives regular updates, commentary and alerts from
BC MP's Libby Davies, Hedy Fry & Denise Savoie as a result of our
previous efforts protesting the delays in confirmations of student
positions.
In February 2007, at the request of Libby Davies, we did write to
federal Minister Monte Solberg emphasizing the importance of these
positions, for these positions to be taken seriously and the need to
process applications from cultural heritage institutions in a more
timely manner. Combined efforts of BC MP's, urged by the BCMA, our
direct campaigning and that of other provincial museums associations and
the CMA have indeed helped protect our sector's very access to these
programs. Last year the CMA was awarded additional funding for the Young
Canada Works program.
The voluntary postings by our member institutions this spring as to
their success in securing student positions was unprompted by the BCMA,
but obviously a welcomed and now it seems an established practice over
the past 3 or 4 springs. This also provides us with some measure of
monitoring our members' participation and the levels of support received
(ie. numbers of positions awarded compared to those requested).
We have also conducted online surveys to compile data and expressions of
importance of student programs, which has previously been used to
support our letter-writing campaigns.
Of interest, below is a direct response from Minister Solberg received
this past winter, to our February 2007 letter (cited above):
/Dear Mr. Harding:/
/I am writing in response to your electronic message of February 21,
2007. Let me apologize for the delay in replying. My department
received a// //great deal of correspondence concerning the Canada Summer
Jobs 2007 initiative, and we have spent the last number of months
reviewing and assessing feedback from both employers and students./
/As a result of the input we received, we have made a number of
important changes to the Canada Summer Jobs initiative for 2008. I
would like to take this opportunity to let you know about next year's
program, and to thank you for the time you took to write with your
concerns./
/The Canada Summer Jobs 2008 initiative supports work experiences for
students, as well as organizations, including those that provide
important community services for children, families, people with
disabilities, seniors, and others./
/In 2008, funding will be offered to not-for-profit organizations,/
/public-sector employers, and small private-sector employers to create/
/high-quality summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30
years old who are full-time students and intend to return to their
studies in the next academic year. Private-sector employers with more
than 50 employees will not be eligible for funding./
/The Canada Summer Jobs budget of $97.5 million will be allocated across
the 308 federal constituencies. There will not be separate funding
envelopes for non-profit organizations, public-sector employers, and
private-sector employers. This method of allocation will allow us to
focus on funding the priorities that are important in each individual
community./
/The assessment criteria used to evaluate employer applications have
been streamlined to focus on the following:/
*/ service to local communities;/
/* jobs that support local priorities (special events or other/
/defined local priorities, such as tourism);/
* /jobs that provide career-related experience or early work/
/experience;/
* /a salary that contributes to the student's income;/
* /an employer who provides supervision and mentoring;/
* /project activities that are directed toward members of, and/
/support the vitality of, an official-language minority community; and/
* /an employer who intends to hire priority students (students with/
/disabilities, Aboriginal students, and students who are members of
visible minority groups)./
/Applications for the initiative will be available on February 1, 2008, on/
/the Internet at servicecanada.gc.ca <//_http://servicecanada.gc.ca/_//>/
//csj2008, or at any Service Canada Centre. All applications must be/
/submitted by February 29, 2008, to be considered, and their assessment
will be completed in April 2008./
/For more information, please visit servicecanada.gc.ca/
/<//_http://servicecanada.gc.ca/_//> /csj2008, or contact your local
Service/
/Canada Centre./
/Sincerely,/
/Monte Solberg, P.C., M.P./
/Minister of Human Resources and Social Development/
---------
Although this response may not be entirely satisfactory, but it is
typical. However complaints are noted and our "network" of vigilance and
protest, which includes our opposition BC MP's, has been expanded with
the exercise.
I think this demonstrates BCMA's willingness to advocate on behalf of
our members and the larger heritage sector.
Meanwhile, we wish to encourage members to keep posting such student
placement results for all our colleagues to see. In a simple way it
keeps our network connected and more effective in such efforts on a
variety of issues, as required.
Thanks,
Jim
> Thank-you Bill and well said!!
>
>
>
> I would also put forth it is not just BC North and Interior museums
> that are finding student recruitment difficult. In Maple Ridge we
> received enough applications to fill the positions that were funded by
> Canada Summer Jobs however by the time we can actually confirm with
> our new hires that the funding is in - they have taken other jobs that
> start earlier and pay more.
>
>
>
> In a labour market like the lower mainland, where there are more jobs
> than qualified people to taken them, even our local Dairy Queen has
> upped the starting wage to $11.00 per hour to start. It is really
> great that the money is there for us this year and that heritage was
> added as a CSJ priority to help ensure that money is there, however it
> is not helpful if we can not find the good students to fill the jobs!
>
>
>
> I think there is something to seriously be addressed the BCMA here.
> That CSJ and YCW need to address the need for funding confirmations
> early and in a more stable manner. I believe that a strongly worded
> letter from the BCMA indicating the memberships concerns is the
> MINIMUM that should be done. If the BCMA is not willing to act as our
> agent on this issue perhaps we can draft a letter to our MP's with our
> concerns and ask for a review of the funding timelines.
>
>
>
> Jordana Feist
>
>
>
> Curator
>
>
>
> Maple Ridge Museum and Community Archives
>
> 22520-116th Ave Maple Ridge V2X 0S5
>
> Haney House Museum
>
> 11612-224th Street Maple Ridge V2X 5Z7
>
> mrm-jordana@uniserve.com
>
> http://mapleridgemuseum.blogspot.com/
>
> 604-463-5311
>
> History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we
> are and why we are the way we are. - David C. McCullough
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: bcma-l-admin@museumsassn.bc.ca
> [mailto:bcma-l-admin@museumsassn.bc.ca]
>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 2:02 PM
> To: bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
> Subject: RE: [Bcma-l] Summer Student funding confirmation delay
>
>
>
> May 13, 2008
>
>
>
> Re: Issues with funding.
>
>
>
> I cannot agree more with what Rosaleen Ward put forward with regard to
> funding. I would suggest a series of changes with regard to grant
> funding for the museum/library fields that depend on summer grant
> programs to operate. It has been increasingly difficult to staff
> positions in the north. The Businesses at Barkerville have been
> feeling the crunch as well, as students and young people find
> positions that are more financially rewarding prior to the
> disbursement of grants. This has been going on in the business world
> for a little longer, but is similar to the issues we in the museum
> community have been feeling for several years - outside of the normal
> issue of having funding distributed at the wrong time of the year and
> inconsistently - there are not sufficient young people to operate
> effectively and the wages are not sufficient to attract young people
> from other more lucrative opportunities.
>
>
>
> Governments operate on a yearly budget - voted on usually at the
> beginning of April or thereabouts. Any delays in distribution of
> voted funds are reflected in late adjudication of any grants. This is
> a huge problem for recruitment purposes and for being able to sustain
> a normal planning phase for the work flow. If grants were voted on
> for distribution prior to April 1st - say by the end of December, then
> we would be able to recruit with confidence that we can actually hire
> someone to carry out a plan. As it is, we scramble each year when the
> funds come down for both students and getting our programs in place.
> Last year was a nightmare. This year, notifications were actually
> faster for Young Canada Works, but a little on the slow side for
> Canada Summer Jobs. The design of these grants is not for the
> consumer, but for the voter. The amounts actually distributed are
> relatively small compared with most other Government expenditures,
> especially in light of the fact that cultural institutions add
> tremendously to the economy in relationship to real costs - especially
> in non-suburban areas where they help circulate money in regions where
> boom and bust is a fact of life, but also the back bone of the general
> Canadian economy. Grants could be simplified by establishing a body
> that the funds could be transferred to in the year prior to the actual
> expenditures. It is not like we would be distributing huge sums of
> money or setting up a body that does not already exist if it was say
> the BCMA or the CMA.
>
>
>
> Another issue that I have with the granting system is the age limits.
> I have been told by workers in the agencies that this would never
> change. Not only are age limits discriminatory for older
> students/people, it limits our ability to fill positions in an economy
> where young people are no longer the group that should be targeted.
>
>
>
> Another issue that is part of the problem is that Governments also
> fear having employees and try to guard against this by not entering
> situations where they are obliged to support an institution. There is
> the fear of having to have large payouts for laying off people; fear
> of coherent collective actions that might be a cost burden to the tax
> payer; fear of having a capital/operational cost and a potential
> threat to their mandate and a fear that anything that does not have an
> immediately visible return (i.e. I will sell you this bag of chips for
> $1 and I get $0.30 cents for doing so). Analysis of cultural value in
> real dollars has demonstrated time and time again, that having a well
> functioning cultural institution that works with other elements of our
> society provides not only the ephemeral emotional aspects of respect
> for history/ideas/ideals/creativity, etc. but pays off in cash. I am
> still trying to figure out why Scotland with not much more population
> and a lot less land mass (than B.C.) can put in five times as much
> money into heritage - remember this is Scotland, the land with the
> reputation for having people who are quite prudent in their
> expenditures. As a tax payer, I can see the obligation point. But, I
> can also understand economics that point to a better method of dealing
> with the Cultural situation. In the past I have suggested that a
> Foundation be established for this purpose into which Governments
> might place endowments with the aim towards stability in the Cultural
> sector. But, this was not commented on, except for one person who
> indicated that they did not want to have another foundation. But, I
> have not heard any other suggestions to effect change. Is the status
> quo suitable then? Is this what people in the Cultural sector want -
> late grants and no employees? Or, are these concerns only for people
> like Rosaleen and myself - in the frozen north?
>
> W. (Bill) G. Quackenbush, Curator
> Barkerville Historic Town,
> Box 19, Barkerville, B.C. V0K 1B0
> Telephone: 1-888-994-3332; ex. 25
> Fax: 1-250-994-3435
> bill.quackenbush@barkerville.ca
> visit - www.barkerville.ca for general information
>
> _____
>
> From: bcma-l-admin@museumsassn.bc.ca
> [mailto:bcma-l-admin@museumsassn.bc.ca]
>
> Sent: May 9, 2008 2:31 PM
> To: bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
> Subject: [Bcma-l] Summer Student funding confirmation delay
>
>
>
> For some organizations the confirmation of funding has come too late -
> many of the students here in the northern communities have already
> found positions. Museums and libraries received calls saying that
> they would probably receive funding but the confirmation did not come
> through for another 3 - 4 weeks. I have heard this is because the
> government was slow in releasing confirmation of funding to Service
> Canada.
>
>
>
> Maybe the government should be made aware of the consequences of these
> delays. Unfortunately, it is Service Canada's beleaguered front line
> staff who often have to bear the brunt of people's frustrations.
>
>
>
> Rosaleen Ward
>
> Museum Coordinator
>
> Hudson's Hope Museum
>
> 9510 Beattie Drive
>
> Box 98
>
> Hudson's Hope
>
> BC V0C 1V0
>
> Phone (250) 783 5735
>
> Fax (250) 783 5770
>
> e mail hhmuseum@pris.ca
>
>
>
>
_______________________________
Jim Harding, ED
BC Museums Association
(250) 356-5694