Amanda Offers, Donna Thomas and Marlene Toth help people to help themselves by advocating for them and teaching them to advocate for themselves through the Sunshine Coast unemployment action centre. Now, these three women have decided they could use a little help from the community to formulate a community advisory board.
Thomas, the program's co-ordinator, said the Sunshine Coast unemployment action centre has its roots and is funded through the labour union. She said the centre started in the early '80s when the growing recession of the moment saw an increasing number of long-time union employees facing unemployment for the first time. They needed help manoeuvring through the unemployment process. "We started out helping people losing their jobs in the resource industry, many of them middle aged or older, who had never been on employment insurance (EI) or welfare and who were ashamed and frightened. They were losing their fishing boats and their homes," said Thomas. "We started off as a union initiative, and the centre is still supported by the union. But there is no paid staff; it's all volunteer work."
Toth said over the years, the centre has evolved to meet the needs and the times of the community. However, the times keep changing, and things are increasingly intricate. Toth said that evolution means people are coming to the centre for help in a variety of areas, mostly dealing with trying to understand the mounds of documents needed in applying for employment insurance, disability welfare, long-term disability, Canada Pension Plan and more.
Offers said rather than being easier, applying for these services and supports has become more difficult and more incomprehensible for many people. She says some things such as EI can only be applied for on-line, and for many people this is a difficult process, especially if they are not highly computer literate. Offers said the bulk of her advocacy is taken with helping people apply for disability insurance and the Canada Pension Plan. Offers said she keeps up with the latest changes, and because of the number of forms she's helped people with, she's developed a level of expertise and can advise them on what information they need and how to get it.
Toth said she is usually the first line of contact when people call needing help. She said she assesses the person's needs and then passes them on to Offers or Thomas. If the three advocates aren't able to give the necessary help, Toth will refer them to other agencies.
The three women say they would like to expand the services they provide, but are already overextended. To make sure they are moving in the right direction in terms of recruiting new volunteers and re-defining the help, they can give, Thomas said she'd like to have an advisory board supporting them and steering the program. For more information on what the group does and how you can help, call 604-886-2425.
