Stop calling it a “pilot”
I thought I knew what a "pilot" is, but maybe I don't. Let's explore.
The MCFD repeatedly talks about the "four pilot family connections centres" (sometimes just "the four pilots"). It was even most of the title of their big announcement "Operators announced for pilot family connections centres". At the bottom of that announcement, there's a link to "Family connections centres pilot information" which goes to a page called "What is happening now" (which is linked from the main page as "Find out what to expect"). That page mentions "pilot communities" and "pilot areas" and, at the very end "this pilot phase". And in a previous press release, David Eby and Mitzi Dean made several commitments, including:
"A pause on the rollout of B.C.’s plan to establish a network of family connection centres, with the exception of the four pilots to be launched. The four pilots will be evaluated during the process."
So yeah, that’s what’s been said, over and over. The MCFD continues to sell this as a typical pilot project, to test the viability of the larger FCC project. So if that's the case, then three things:
1) What happens if the pilot project starts to fail? Surely the MCFD would want to quickly make corrections so the pilot project can continue, right? Wouldn't they be eager for feedback? Why are they so committed to killing Starbright and rushing ARC despite everyone begging them to stop? Will they listen before it’s too late? They said “evaluated during the process” so isn’t our feedback precisely what they’re supposed to be listening to?
2) What happens if the pilot project fails completely? Rather, what happens if the pilot project proves that the larger FCC project should be scrapped? Well, now you've screwed over ARC and all their partners who stretched to make the FCC happen. And you've really screwed Starbright because you killed them. Do you think 57-year-old institutions just grow on trees? If you end up scrapping the FCC project, whether this year or down the road, do you think another Starbright will just pop up out of the ashes? That doesn't happen! Why does it seem like the MCFD is just moving numbers around a spreadsheet as if these organizations and professionals are generic and interchangeable? Starbright is not merely a certain number of SLPs or a certain number of PTs. You can't shove the same numbers of the same types of professionals into a new building and ding! have duplicated Starbright. If you kill them, they're gone. You've lost something forever.
3) Even if the MCFD is committed to killing Starbright for whatever reason, what's the rush? All you're doing is forcing ARC to crank open an FCC on a ridiculous timeline. How are they supposed to hire so many people so quickly? Who are they even going to hire? No responsible therapist would jettison their caseload just to hop jobs, so will ARC be forced to hire new grads or bring in people from out-of-province? ARC should be very concerned that the MCFD is setting them up for failure. ARC should be begging the MCFD to maintain Starbright funding so there can be a reasonable transition.
The Big Worry
The big worry is that the MCFD is dead set on the FCC project regardless of how the pilot project goes. That they will force ARC to do the impossible. That they will kill Starbright so there's no going back. That the pilot project will be a failure in Kelowna, but nothing will be learned, no process will be adjusted, and the FCC project will just blindly steamroll across the province. And in communities like Kelowna, their Starbrights will be killed too. Guess who suffers? Certainly not the spreadsheet. Just the kids the MCFD is supposed to support.
So stop calling these new FCCs "pilot centres" because they're clearly not.
Killing Starbright is proof that the MCFD isn't testing anything. Killing Starbright means there will be no way to go back. There will be no way to cancel the pilot. Seems like the MCFD doesn't even care to have the option, because they don't need it. They're only going forward. This isn't a pilot project, this is the real thing. This is the full FCC rollout, happening now. There was never any "pause". We just happen to be one of the first ones up.
Sure would be nice if the MCFD would admit it, because the doublespeak makes things worse. We already feel misled. Now we feel manipulated.