EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) will speak to a meeting of the High Prairie Town Council on Tues., Apr. 23, urging council to fight to save the town’s youth-treatment centre.
TIME: 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 23.
LOCATION: High Prairie Town Council, 4806 53 Ave., High Prairie.
The town’s Campus Based Treatment Centre has been closed “for the foreseeable future,” according to the Alberta government, after a fire in the facility in November 2023.
“This treatment centre provided a vital service to vulnerable youths in the region, young people who cannot be helped by other agencies,” says Sandra Azocar, vice-president of AUPE, which represents workers at the centre.
“These youths and their families must now travel hundreds of kilometres from their homes, far from their support networks and community,” she says.
Several AUPE members will join Azocar to present at the town council meeting.
“This is also a blow for the town because it is losing dozens of good jobs,” she says. “Workers have either had to transfer to jobs far away or have had their employment terminated. That will have a significant economic impact on local businesses."
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AUPE vice-president Sandra Azocar is available for media interviews.
For information, please contact Terry Inigo-Jones, communications officer, at 403-831-4394 or t.inigo-jones@aupe.org