To the editor:
In response to the cartoon in The Source this past week that inaccurately portrayed the front-line workers of the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association and how it delivers its services, I would like to provide some important points of education.
To begin, social service work is ‘service delivery’ work. An agency or organization receives funds to provide services according to outlined objectives. This does not mean clients simply receive bags/purses/jars full of money. What they do receive are needed and relevant services, in this case, settlement services, which are delivered by a Settlement Worker working directly with the clients.
Second, here are the facts on the funds provided in this particular case: $122,000 over two years was granted by the provincial government to the Thunder Bay and Kenora Multicultural Associations.
The breakdown of these funds totals $30,500 per year per region. Once infrastructure costs are factored in, the remaining amount makes for a part-time job for someone with years of experience, knowledge and dedication in this particular field.
This is hardly the image portrayed in the cartoon. My advice? Please refrain from satirical and inflammatory cartoons and articles unless a more accurate portrayal of the facts is illustrated, or unless the impropriety is without reasonable dispute.
In this cartoon, an organization that does wonderful work in our community, the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, was unduly and unjustly maligned by way of an uninformed message.
Sandy Taddeo,
Professions North/Nord,
Thunder Bay Multicultural Association
