More drug treatment facilities say they’ve had problems with their residents getting the welfare money meant for the facility, even as the B.C. government denies there’s a problem at all.
Five facilities in total have told CTV News that the government’s apparently buggy computer system seems to be behind some “technical difficulties” that appear to be sending hundreds of dollars to recovering drug addicts – or denying funding entirely.
“We can’t get some things approved because of the computers,” said Rob Jones of Pathway to Freedom Recovery House, which operates in Surrey.
“They’re being really nice, they’re trying, but there’s nothing we can do,” he said, adding that he has been assured the problems will get worked out in the end.
The first of the recovery houses to step forward was Vision Quest Recovery Society, which claimed it was missing thousands as money was diverted from its coffers to its clients. Director Jim O’Rourke pointed to a government e-mail he received which outlined the problem.
“We are currently recovering from technical difficulties experienced during the past few weeks,” the government worker wrote.
“We are still working on processing a backlog…as a result many clients may not receive the correct amount of assistance (i.e. they will receive MORE than they are entitled to.) Please have a conversation with the occupants of your facility to advise them that if they receive more than $95 they will have to give the overage amount to you,” the worker wrote.
That’s difficult, said O’Rourke, saying that some of his clients may have already spent the money on drugs.
“Let’s say I give you $700 to pay my Visa, and you’ve got a crack problem. What are your chances of getting the Visa bill paid?” he said.
The system is called “Integrated Case Management,” which had problems in early May that resulted in workers resorting to phone calls and hard copy to keep track of welfare files.
The B.C. government said today it paid some $2 million to fly social workers into Victoria to test the system before it launched. The system was the subject of a testy question period exchange in the legislature on Thursday.
“Perhaps the honourable minister can tell B.C. what penalties if any have been imposed on a contractor who received $200 million of taxpayer money and delivered a faulty product?” NDP MLA George Heyman asked.
“There is no problem with the system. It’s running well,” said Minister of Technology and Citizen Services Andrew Wilkinson. “The member is so busy trolling for suckers he appears to have dropped his fishing rod.”
