The Lakeland Mills Fire Assistance Fund has climbed past the $400,000 mark but questions still remain as to how the money will be distributed.
That process has yet to be explained to the 150 employees who lost their permanent jobs in the devastating April 23 explosion and fire that destroyed the Lakeland sawmill.
Nearly two months has passed since the disaster that took the lives of mill workers Alan Little and Glenn Roche and left 22 others injured. Today is the deadline for Lakeland workers to submit waivers that will formally start the process of applying for funds.
"It will be confidential, it will be arm's length from us and the company," said Judy Neiser, executive director of the Prince George Community Foundation, which is collecting and administering the Lakeland fund. "It has to go to the employees first, we can't give out information to the media that the employees haven't received, it isn't fair to them. Once that is communicated to them, we can then go to the media with it, but at this point we can't."
Unless the employee signs the waiver, no outside agency is allowed to access employee records. Once those waivers are processed, then it will be left up to an independent body to assess each case individually. Neiser was unable to divulge the criteria that will determine how the funds will be distributed, but did say it would be based on the individual needs of each applicant.
"It hits a real confidential spot at this point because employees don't want to be singled out as having needs, and our allegiance is to them. There's no information that can be released from the company without the waivers."
An independent arm, separate from Lakeland and the Community Foundation, will set the criteria to determine how much each employee will receive. A similar fund was set up to help mill workers from Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake left jobless after a similar explosion and fire that killed two men and injured 19 on Jan. 20.
Eligibility for distribution of the $400,000 Burns Lake Tragedy Fund is based on several considerations which were, in order of priority: injured workers, workers on shift the night of the disaster, workers employed by Babine Forest Products, other workers and employees of mill subcontractors, and community members who have become unemployed due to the spin-off economic effects of loss of the mill.
But Neiser said there's nothing to suggest a similar list of priorities to determine need will be used for Lakeland employees.
"You can't compare it, because it wasn't the Community Foundation that was looking after it there, it was an independent group of individuals," Neiser said. "At the end of the day, 100 per cent of what the Community Foundation receives will be distributed, and that's what we're accountable to the public for. Once the criteria is set up, they will deal with it in the most respectful way they can. This is a Band-Aid, it's not meant to provide income until the mill is rebuilt, if it is rebuilt. It's something more than they would have received had there not been a fund. Most of them have only been out of paycheque for less than two weeks, so right now isn't where the needs are. The needs will be down the road."
On May 30, 22 employees of the Lakeland planer mill went back to work for a six-week period that will end once the supply of ready-cut lumber is exhausted.
Donations continue to be received for the Lakeland Fund.
Proceeds from Original Joe's restaurant grand opening raised $2,600; a luncheon at the Guru Gobind Sikh Temple raised $2,500; Mrs. Sawatsky's class at Buckhorn Elementary collected $891.61; a D.P. Todd secondary school barbecue raised $1,115.80; and Tianna and Anataya Schnepf collected $1,930 from shoppers at Superstore, a total matched by Excel Transportation.
On Saturday, June 23, the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum is hosting a Lakeland benefit concert with tickets on sale for $25 each. The Northern Sport Centre at UNBC is hosting its "Storm the Hill" day of family events and activities on Sunday, August 19 to support the fund.
Several stores in the city are selling "We remember Lakeland Mills" wristbands for $2 each.
