FORT MCMURRAY – The union that represents employees of the MacDonald Island Dance Academy says the public deserves the “real story” about the closure of the school.
It was announced last week that MIDA would cease operations after the current season.
Reasons given by the Regional Recreation Corporation of Wood Buffalo – which currently manages, staffs, and funds the academy – included a decrease in registration coupled with an increase in costs.
Craig Milley, President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1505 says the program was profitable up until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020.
In a press release, Milley says information provided by RRC CEO Graig Walsh about the school’s closure is “concerning and inaccurate.”
“There is no evidence to support the notion that there has been a steady decline in participation and/or registration of the program for several years pre-pandemic,” Milley states.
“The numbers show that the program was profitable between 2014 and early 2020.”
Milley claims the union and MIDA dance instructors presented Walsh with a 12-page Alternate Business Case which outlined the school’s projected profitability, marketability, and sustainability.
However, Milley says Walsh did not meet with him or the instructors to discuss the document.
The union says MIDA provides an important and growing service in Fort McMurray.
“Some of these kids have been with the studio and the same instructors for 10 years”, says Milley.
“The kids are losing their studio and their instructors, the instructors are losing their jobs, and the community is losing a dance program that was profitable and could continue to be profitable.”
The union is calling for Walsh to be formally investigated under the Municipal Government Act for what it calls “his misleading information and lack of compliance with the terms of the Collective Agreement.”
