Michelle DaCruz
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 08/02) - Rebecca Latour is always delighted to receive donations for the Alison McAteer house, but Wednesday she was ecstatic.

Steve Petersen, plant chair of the CAW Local 2304 handed over a $2,000 cheque just in time for International Women's Day, March 8.

Latour, clinical supervisor of the house, notices that the number of women and children in need is growing at a steady pace and money is needed more now than ever.

"There used to be a lull every summer and Christmas. Now we are steady the entire year," said Latour.

The CAW's social justice fund has made $2,000 donations to the house for the last four years.

The money is generated from union dues that are taken directly from employee paycheques. The CAW represents 250,000 Canadian members working in manufacturing, transportation, mines, fisheries, hospitality and health care industries.

As the local union representative, Petersen knows first hand that government funding is limited and the need for social assistance is high, especially for women.

"We lobby the social justice fund every year because demographically we have more violence against women than probably more populated areas of Canada," said Petersen.

The money will be used for resources like updating the house's video and print reference library. Latour said the current material is outdated and only available in a limited number of languages.

"We want to reach as many people as we can," she said.