The following article appeared in the June 22 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
Former Change Now board members say they want to find out why the youth centre closed without warning last week.
The public “absolutely” has a right to know the justification behind the closure, said Cathy Dodd, who was chair of Change Now’s board of directors in 2004.
“I think it’s very important for the community and the kids,” Dodd said.
“It would have been nice to have some time to give the kids some alternate places to go to, some options,” she said.
Danielle Little, another former board member, also didn’t know what had happened, and said she was going to try and figure it out herself.
She said she understood the importance of confidentiality in some cases, particularly when there are youth involved.
Little said she wasn’t aware of any problems brewing at the centre when she left the board a few years ago.
Both Dodd and Little said they would be interested in sitting on the board of directors for a new centre expected to open in September.
Allan Knapp, a Norfolk Street United Church representative on the Change Now board of directors, said yesterday he expected the reasons for the closure to eventually become public, but said he was certain the information would not come from any members of the board.
He said Councillor Ian Findlay’s Wednesday comments that the centre closed for reasons involving personal information, which would be immoral and illegal to discuss, were “fairly close to the truth.”
Guelph Police Sergeant Cate Welsh said the police are not aware of why Change Now closed.