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Valleyview tenant not giving up on advocacy

“I’m not giving up,” says Natalie Berrecloth, a tenant of Valleyview Towers in North Battleford.
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“I’m not giving up,” says Natalie Berrecloth, a tenant of Valleyview Towers in North Battleford.

Berrecloth, who has been advocating for change in the conditions of her apartment block in the media, says she has been targeted as a troublemaker for talking to print, radio and television reporters about police being frequently called to the tower over partying, drinking, fighting and, most recently, a stabbing.

Recently, she says, she was summoned to a Friday morning meeting in the boardroom. There, she said, she found Denis Laverty, general manager of the Battlefords Housing Authority, as well as the chairman of the Battlefords Housing Authority board of directors, a regional manager for Saskatchewan Housing Corporation and the director of northern operations for the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation.

She says, she was almost immediately confronted with “why did you go to the media?” The chairman of the board, she says, told her she could have come to the board with her concerns. She was also asked why she didn’t advise the staff, she says.

“I told them, I went to the office, I made countless phone calls and left messages, and wrote letters to the board, the president of the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation, the Minister of Social Services and met with our local MLA. All before going to the media,” says Berrecloth.

She also says she learned at that meeting that the manager had met with other tenants before calling her in. She believes they would like to see her gone.

She maintains the tenant association has been derailed, gossip prevails and ill will permeates the building. The new culture of the building is a far cry from former years, when seniors met to play cards, had regular entertainment and looked out for one another, she says.

“Rather than deal with the problem that almost everyone in this community has identified, the powers to be have chosen to shoot the messenger. Get rid of Natalie and it’s problem solved,” she says.

“It certainly looks like there is more going on here than what this government is admitting to. They refuse to admit Valleyview Tower is a seniors’ facility. Everyone in North Battleford has known it’s a seniors’ building and always has been since it was built in the early 1980s. Even the Battlefords Housing Authority website says it’s a seniors building,” says Berrecloth.

She adds, “I’m reminded of an old expression – don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.”