PAGE 2, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18ý 1980, WHITBY FREE PRE~SS Already $67,000 over budget.... Durham to hire special investigator to combat rising welfare fruad cases By MICHAEL KNELL Free Press Staff The Region of Durham will spend about $20,000 over the next year to hire and train a special investigator to look in cases of welfare fraud. The recommendation came from Oshawa Regional Councillor John DeHart, chairman of the social services committee, after studies showed that there may be as many as 30 to 40 cases of welfare rip-off every year in the region. DeMart, however, main- tained that this is mostly a deterant measure. The special investigator will be experienced regional welfare case worker. "Having this investigator in the field will discourage people from frauding welfare," DeHart said noting that this is only an experimental project and is the only one in the province. DeHart said that he did not know how much money the region will save through the project or even how many cases will be taken to court although he did stress that both the region and the province will be monitoring it closely. The inspiration for the idea to hire the investigator came after discovering that the regional welfare payments have increased to $10 million annually and shows no sign of decreasing. "At times we are con- demned for being too lenient," DeHart said ad- ding that people sometimes think that welfare is un- necessary. The case worker will be trained for a one to two mon- th period in Toronto and another, temporary, caseworker will be hired to assume his duties. This investigator will examine cases referred to him by other departmental officals, although, Social Services Commissioner Dough Johns said that "any deserving welfare recipient has nothing to be concerned about." Johns said that cases of fraud predominately occur in two areas, family support and unemployment cases. Johns said that cases where a married couple is supposedly spearated, the husband is working while the wife is drawing welfare and they are still living together is common, although it is difficult to prove. The other case is where someone is drawing welfare working at night and receiving pay in cash, without record, or under the counter. Most commons jobs where this is found, Johns said is night taxi dir- vers and some waitressing jobs. Johns said that most problems with prosecuting apparent welfare fraud cases is that the department cannot prove intent. "We can't get the Crown to prosecute because the Crown can't prove intent," Johns said, adding that that doesn't mean they will not be cutoff welfare. He said that if a case of welfare fraud is found, the recipient will be cut off even if he or she is not suc- cessfully prosecuted. However, Johns was also careful to add that "we don't go around cutting off people without good reason." "We will still cut off if evidence is sufficient, even if intent is not proven," Johns said. To date, the region has only sucessfully prosecuted five or six cases of wlefare fraud out of the 30 or 40 probable cases known each year. The investigator will not have any plice powers and any evidence that he gathers will be turned over to the fraud squad of the Durham Regional Police Force for charging and court proceedings. Asked why this task of in- vestigating welfare fraud cases was not handled en- tirely by the police, Johns said they are not trained in the appropriate legislation. "You have to know the terms of the General Assistance Act," Johns said. "It would be very difficult for them to decide what is fraud." He said that what may seem a fraud to the police, may not be one under the act, therefore, prosecution would be wrongful. This means that the region must have one of their own people, fully versed in the act, to in- vestigate these cases. DeHart said that the suc- cess of the project will probably be determined by the number of cases that are successfully prosecuted. As of this month, the region is already $67,000 overspent on its own allot- ment of welfare funds. "We are already over budget by 67,000 regional dollars," Johns said. At present there are about 5,000 people in the region drawing welfare assistance. The average welfare benefit for a single man is $43.70 a week. WPH pushed up The $28 million expansion of the Whitby Psychiatric Hospjtal will begin sooner than previously expected according to Durham West MPP George Ashe. Ashe said recently that the decision by the ministry of health to delay the construc- tion of the facility until 1982 of 1983 will probably be reversed. When the original expan- sion plans where announced last year, construction was expected to begin sometime this year. The expansion was part of the ministry of health's streanline program that including the closure of Toronto's Lakeshore Hospital whose patients were subsequently tran- sferred to the Whitby facility. The Durham Region District Health Council is prensently preparing a report advising the gover- nment of how the new hospital should be built and what kinds of facilities should be included. Ashe indicated that a for- mal announcement could be forthcoming before the end of June. He added that "I hope to have something very specific and very positive to say." "I hope we will be able to speed up the process," Ashe said.