My name is Laura Dean.

I was a director and the vice president of the Penticton Branch for 8 months in 1998. Due to our difference in animal welfare philosophies, I was forced to resign. I had basically informed my fellow directors that unless they did something about the appalling conditions at the shelter (filthy dog pens, fleas and ear mite infestations) I would resign. I wanted them to assist me in replacing the then current shelter manager and two of the incompetent employees. They basically gave me lip service that they supported my concerns, but when it came time to actually terminate the employees (which by the way was a carried motion at one of our board meetings) the directors sent to carry out the task did the opposite. After resigning I did not disappear into the woodwork as they would have liked. I joined another animal welfare society doing real work, and became a constant source of pressure to the shelter manager and his staff. He eventually resigned as did one of the two employees.

The reason I am contacting you about the BCSPCA is concerning my disgust with how the Provincial head office is run. It came to my attention while a director, that the paid office staff receive around $600,000.00 per year in salaries. By my calculating, there are 8 or 9 staff members in total including Carl Ottosen in Kamloops. while with the Penticton Branch, I asked Dr. Woolridge (BC SPCA Director) for a breakdown on the salaries and a list itemizing their expenditures. He said that it was private information. I did however get him to tell me that a "retreat" they had at Harrison Hot Springs in 1998 cost $25,000.00!! This retreat was to discuss the overhauling of the funds received from the Branches (the 25% cut Provincial receives on any bequests over $10,000.00 etc) I was appalled to say the least. Our board also sent a formal written request for the salary amounts etc which of course was denied and we were politely threatened to have our memberships evoked.

I wanted to inform you of this in hopes of getting some assistance from you in finding this information out. Nicholas Read (Vancouver Sun columnist) is aware of this as well. I have sent emails to the Minister of Finance and also requested the tax returns for 1996 and 1997 for the BCSPCA. Basically I am trying to get it in writing from a government office that the information I am seeking is not private to members of the society, as it is publicly raised funding. Let me know if you can help us out in any way.

Sincerely,

Laura Dean