B.C. responds to lawsuit over fees to welfare recipients for methadone treatment

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government says it has done nothing wrong by redirecting money from the income-assistance cheques of recovering heroin addicts to pay private methadone-dispensing clinics for treatment.

In documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court last month, the provincial government says private clinics can charge extra for counselling services not provided by a doctor, and that such fees can be paid for out of a beneficiary’s monthly income or disability allowance.

Laura Shaver is in the methadone maintenance program and sued the province in November 2015 in what could become a class-action lawsuit.

Shaver’s notice of claim says she was forced to sign a government-drafted agreement at Yale Medical Centre in downtown Vancouver because she need treatment for a heroin addiction and there was no room at a public facility.

The fee agreement is $60, which is reduced by about $42 through a government-provided supplement, leaving the remaining $18 to be drawn from her monthly support allowance.

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The government’s response to civil claim says it did not force Shaver to attend the private clinic, which the province says operates separately from government.

The Canadian Press