People are being asked to throw their name on a petition asking the BC government to implement 10 days of paid leave for victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Treasurer Susanne Skidmore believes it would have a significant impact on people trying to leave abusive situations. “It’s for things like attending a lawyer or meeting with community services that help people remove themselves from these situations. Dealing with moving. Whatever it is. The cost of this in the big scheme of things is quite minimal.”

Skidmore says BC is one of the last provinces to have this type of policy in place. She says we should be trying to limit things like financial barriers for people trying to escape these kinds of situations. “The Federation of Labour believes 10 days of paid leave for domestic and sexual violence is just a necessity. Currently we have some leave that is unpaid for folks but it is the bare minimum of support.”

Skidmore says it is something they’ve been pushing for, for some time as currently there is some unpaid leave, but it is the bare minim,um of support. “When they try and leave the situation that they’re in and they have no financial support and they have no ability to take paid leave from their employment, they’re risking losing their employment and often what holds people into those situations is the financial repercussions of having to take unpaid leave from work.”

It launched the campaign last week and you can add your name to the petition at workersdeservebetter.ca.