The Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society says ending contracts with its local language assessor and a settlement coordinator hasn't affected its daily operations.
"The organization is running well and there are processes in place. As with any organization everybody is replaceable," said Ranjit Gill, who spoke on behalf of the IMSS board. She said the same number of language programs are being offered and the centre has already filled one position.
Gill said she couldn't say why the two had been let go other than it was an "operational reason."
"They had a contract and we stated that either party could cancel the contract and give two weeks notice and that's exactly what we did," she said. "It is an internal operational issue and it shouldn't be in the media."
Last Thursday, the organization's daycare workers walked off the job after IMSS ended contracts with two staff earlier this month. Gill said the protest came down to a misunderstanding.
"These workers don't understand their own contact and they went back to work the next day," she said. "They're back to work and everything's fine."
But two former workers say that's not the case.
Roberta Long said by email she would have walked out with the workers in protest if she'd been on staff.
"These two people were the most competent managers in the organization, and without them, chaos will reign," said Long, who had recently resigned from her language position of two years after she was offered full-time work at the College of New Caledonia this fall. "They were the ones who wrote grant applications, and who made sure that IMSS was in compliance with the federal government contract for services."
In a letter to The Citizen, Jennifer Little noted IMSS has lost the only local person who can determine language levels for placement in government-funded language programs.
Joan Haack said she had no comment, but confirmed she had worked at IMSS for 16 years, most recently as the language coordinator and childminding manager. Haack said she is the only certified language assessor based in Prince George, with the next closest assessor in Williams Lake.
In order to be eligible for the federally-funded classes, immigrants must take a Canadian Language Benchmarks test at a Language Assessment Centre by a licensed assessor. In the north, IMSS in Prince George and Northwest Community College in Prince Rupert are listed as testing agencies.
Gill said the cancelled contract won't affect language assessments because they will bring in out-of-town assessors.
She said the organization is running smoothly under the direction of longtime executive director Baljit Sethi.
"She's very adept and knows what she's doing and I think that IMSS is in very good hands," said Gill, noting Sethi launched the organization when she was its only employee and helped it grow to the more than 20 staff today.
