Community organization faces future funding crisis

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – A northern regional council is stepping up to help a local literacy society facing a looming funding crisis.

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM) regional council has passed a motion to support the Fort Nelson Community Literacy Society in the wake of losing its most substantial funder. 

Seanah Mollica, the executive director of the Fort Nelson Literacy Society, went before the regional council during its January 13th meeting to ask for support due to recent challenges impacting the organization.

The society had sent a letter to the council in December 2024, asking for support due to a funding cut of $120,000 a year for the next five years. 

The cut, which would account for 30 per cent of the society’s funding, is due to take place starting in April due to a reduction in support from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

According to the IRCC 2024-25 departmental plan, the government organization intends to decrease total planned expenditures by $466.1 million over the next three years, due to the country’s “commitment to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals by the end of 2023”. 

The funding decrease will largely impact the Interim Housing Assistance Program and temporary accommodations and support services for claimants, the Interim Federal Health Program and more. 

Mollica explained the funding cuts are due to immigration changes throughout the country, with decisions being made in a “big sweep”. According to Mollica, the funding loss will impact all of the society’s programs, and create “a domino effect all the way down the line”. 

“The loss of this funding has forced us to consider significant restructuring, putting many of our essential services for vulnerable individuals at risk,” Mollica wrote in the letter to council. 

Beyond adult and child literacy programs, the society also provides assistance for newcomers to Fort Nelson, computer literacy classes, and individual assistance with government applications. 

The cut stands to significantly impact the vulnerable populations the society assists, including newcomers, indigenous peoples and residents facing systemic barriers such as mental health, addictions and poverty. 

When speaking to council, Mollica detailed the ripple effect this loss of funding would have on the community, impacting services such as Service BC, local Northern Health organizations and the MLA’s office. The society often receives referrals from those organizations to assist individuals in applications and computer literacy. 

“There are going to be critical gaps. If we cannot buy more time to source out additional funding to fill in this gap, we are going to suffer losses in terms of staffing, and it’s going to have a very deep impact on us,” Mollica said. 

Mollica explained the society is intending to lobby the IRCC to reconsider the funding cut, and asked for the council’s support. 

The society is also searching for creative ways to fill the gap in funding, including a monthly community newsletter called The Northern Pulse starting on February 3rd. 

“All of our other funding sources have had to be pulled from to cover our overheads, to keep the lights on, so it’s the staff that will suffer,” Mollica said. 

Following Mollica’s presentation, the council voted to send a letter in support of the society’s lobbying efforts, and encouraged it to apply for funding through the grants-to-community groups process for the 2025 budget.

Energeticcity.ca reached out to the IRCC asking about its decision to cut funding for the Fort Nelson Literacy Society, but did not receive a reply by publication time.