FROM PAGE A14

my 17 weeks maternal leave

in October, and was told that
I should have applied within
a week of my baby’s birth.
At any rate, I had now
disqualified myself by
returning to work.”

-Clark contacted a Mr.
Miller, head of the North
Vancouver office“of UIC, on
August 27. He was sym-
pathetic, but felt that any
appeal would be turned
down, and it was not worth
her time to apply. A call to
social worker, Laurie
Schetcher, at Grace
Hospital, confirmed this.

Another call to Schetcher,
brought a suggestion to try
the Ministry of Human
Resources. Here, Clark gota
Mr. Banks, an “intake
worker”. Banks was sym-
pathetic, and looked into the
particulars of her case: Clark
and her husband both
worked, and had saved for a
planned child. No, Clark did
not qualify for any service
provided.

“I told him about the Urea
Formaldahyde,” said Clark.
“Before the baby can come
home, we've got to pay
about $11,000 to have it
extracted and have the
carpets, drapes, furniture,
everything, removed and
cleaned. Urea is known to
affect the very young, and
the baby will have a chest
condition when he comes
home. This is not to mention
at least $3,500 in hospital
bills. Our savings are more
than wiped out — the $5,000
government grant for the
insulation may not arrive in
time. Employment Canada
forces me to keep working
and this disqualified me for
anything else.”

Banks suggested she call
daycare. Here she was told
she could drop the child off
Monday morning, but they
really didn’t have anyone
qualified to handle = sick
newborns.

Laurie Schetcher told her
to try Community
Homemaker's Service. They
-offered to send someone for
$9.98 an hour, or about
$1,600 a month.

As a last resort, Clark
called Labor Canada where a
Mr. West suggested that she
come down and fill out a
form.

“I realized that in filling
out their form, 1 would be
lodging a complaint against
Beaufort Navigation. Mr.
West, for some reason, said
it might come to that. I
asked if I were cligible for 17
wecks off without pay, and
he didn't know. I tried
Chuck Cook's office for a
week, but no one answered
the phone. | tried the
Provincial Human
Resources, and they said to
try Carl Friedman, the
Ombudsman, but did not
have an address or phonc
number.” Clark said.

She summed up the
sttuahon, adding that this
was not a plea for mercy

She was simply angry and
getting nowhere “I have
been more or less told that |
have to become = destitute
and give up before they will
treat me like a human being
1 am being discriminated
against for having a
premature baby and for my
willingness to work for a
hving There ts no doubt tn
my mind that somewhere tn
Ottawa, a bureaucrat has the
Power to intervene in my
case, and that our MP, once
he finds out about it, will
have the cules permancntly
changed.”

AIS - Wednesday, September 7, 1983 - North Shore News |

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