SWAG's Future

As of February 04, SWAG is mostly being run on volunteer power. We are continuing to provide service and have kept our centre open. The coordinator was laid off in order to ensure that we could stay open until we secure funding for other projects. As well as the small grant from CRIAW, we are seeking to secure other funding and donations and will likely be moving to a much smaller office. All 37 women's centres in the province are losing their provincial funding by the end of March.

It is unlikely this will change under the new Minister of State for Women's Equality Ida Chong (a local Victoria Liberal MLA). The BC Liberal government does not want to fund any "advocacy" for women and does not see the work that women's centres do as a "core service". It would take 1.7 million to fund 37 women's centres for a year. The government has committed 600 million of provincial money over the next few years to spend on the olympics.

For recent press releases on the cuts to women's centres, go to the
web page of the BC Coalition of Women's Centres

Thank you

A huge thank you to the students from the Canadian College of Performing Arts who put on an exceptionally moving and often funny performance of the Vagina Monologues. And another thank you to the organizers who choose to donate part of the proceeds to SWAG and Bridges for Women.

JUNE 2004 update

As of July 1st, SWAG will be moving to a much smaller office. No location has been confirmed as of yet. We are not closing and will send out a notice as soon as we have a confirmed location.