Living Wage in Penticton jumps to $24.63 per hour, while minimum wage sits at $17.40 per hour

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A sharp spike in the region’s cost of living—primarily due to soaring housing costs and highlighting the region’s affordability crisis—has led Penticton’s living wage to rise to $24.93 per hour, a 3 per cent increase from last year. A strikingly large gap exists between the 2024 Penticton living wage and BC’s current minimum wage of $17.40 per hour.

The Living Wage BC report for 2024 has shed light on the ongoing struggles faced by people who work low-wage jobs in our province. The living wage is the hourly rate to ensure a worker can afford necessities, escape severe financial stress and be a part of their community. The living wage is not the same as the minimum wage, which is the legal minimum all employers must pay and often does not reflect the true expenses people face.

People who work for low wages face impossible choices—buy groceries or heat the house, keep up with bills or pay the rent on time. The result can be spiraling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. In many cases it means working long hours, often at multiple jobs, just to pay for basic necessities. Parents end up having little time to spend with their family, much less to help their children with schoolwork or participate in community activities and we are all poorer for it.

However, the report also points out the significant difference that earning a living wage can make in the lives of low-wage workers. With a wage that reflects the true cost of living in their community, individuals can afford the necessities, support their families, and participate in their communities. The living wage is a crucial tool in ensuring that paid work results in a decent standard of living and allows individuals to lead fulfilling lives beyond simply struggling to get by.

The government’s efforts to provide financial relief through income-tested benefits are struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of rent, leaving many individuals in a financial bind. As a result, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of people turning to organizations like the Access Centre for assistance in making ends meet. This growing demand highlights the pressing need for more comprehensive solutions to address the affordability crisis and ensure that all individuals have the resources they need to thrive.

“I don’t know if it’s a bigger problem in Penticton than it is in other communities in the area,” Beckett said in an interview, “but I do know that when there’s a shortage of housing, of market housing, at various income levels, then prices go up and when prices go up, some people can’t afford to live.”

Beckett shared with the authors information from a preliminary report that will spell out how many units need to be built in the next 20 years or so.

“It’s a lot,” she said.

“Unless something changes and people stop moving to the Okanagan, it’s likely that it’ll be on the higher side. And that’s a significant chunk of housing that needs to be built, and on the market, ready for rental and purchase every year.”

“Hundreds of thousands of BC workers earn less than the living wage and face impossible choices like buy groceries or heat the house, keep up with bills or pay the rent on time.” says Anastasia French, Provincial Manager of Living Wage BC. “Racialized workers and women are disproportionately affected by low wages in a region where the cost of living keeps climbing.”

The living wage calculation is based on the needs of two-parent families with young children, but it is also meant to support all workers so that young adults are not discouraged from having children because of low wages and older workers have extra income as they age.

It is clear that implementing policies that support a living wage for all workers is not only the right thing to do, but it is also crucial for the economic and social well-being of our communities. The findings of the Living Wage BC report for 2024 serve as a reminder of the importance of valuing and supporting all workers in our society.

The living wage is a powerful tool to ensure paid work results in a decent standard of living and enables a life that is about more than a constant struggle to get by. For low-wage workers, earning a living wage is a game changer. It means freedom from constant financial stress and an opportunity to plan for the future.

Breaking Down Barriers: Jim Morrison’s Journey to Supporting the Disability Community

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Jim Morrison, a successful businessman, never truly understood the struggles faced by people with disabilities—until he was confronted with those challenges firsthand through his brother, Paul. When Paul, who lived outside the region, faced serious health issues, Jim found himself stepping into the role of medical advocate. As he navigated the complex healthcare system, Jim quickly realized the multitude of barriers that individuals with disabilities face daily.

Fortunately, Jim was not alone in this journey. Keisha, a dedicated Community Advocate at the Penticton and Area Access Centre, went above and beyond to support him in arranging care and resources for Paul, even from afar. Jim was deeply moved by Keisha’s advocacy and the positive impact it had on the level of support Paul received. “Having an advocate made all the difference,” Jim reflected, expressing his profound appreciation for the help he received.

In honour of his brother Paul, who sadly passed away in 2022 after facing significant health challenges, Jim and Wildstone Construction Group have generously sponsored the Penticton and Area Access Centre. Jim’s visit to the Centre, where he connected with Keisha and learned about the vital resources available, inspired this heartfelt contribution.

This sponsorship will help the Access Centre expand its services, reaching even more people in need across the South Okanagan Similkameen region. With Wildstone’s support, we can continue to break down barriers and provide essential resources to individuals facing challenges in our community. We are deeply grateful to Jim, Wildstone Construction Group, and all those who make this incredible work possible.

Together, we can create a more accessible and inclusive community for all.

Pictured above is Brandi with Jim Morrison, CEO of Wildstone as well as Julie Read, Manager of Wildstone

Access Centre is looking to expand their reach

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In the last year or so we have seen an increased need for outreach services for Disability Applications and Resources and Referrals (whether it be filling out government paperwork, or housing applications etc). Sometimes folks are so barriered that they cannot make the trek down to Access Centre whether it be transportation issues or remembering appointments etc. Our Community Advocates are now going into the community and meeting people where they are at.

On top of seeing folks in our office for booked appointments and our regular Wednesday Resource Drop Ins, our Community Advocates are at the following places:

TUESDAYS
Okanagan College (1st Tuesday of the month)
9am – 11am

Fairhaven
10am – 12pm

Foundry
3pm – 5pm

WEDNESDAYS

Compass Complex
10am – 12pm

FRIDAYS

Burdock House
10am – 12pm

We look forward to expanding these services even further in the future once we get more funding.

Access Centre Team

Children’s Fun Event Honoring Indigenous People’s Day

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On June 21st the Access Centre team attended our first community event in over two years; a Children’s Fun day in honor of Indigenous People’s day. This event was put on by the Ooknakane Friendship Centre with assistance from the City of Penticton’s Social Development office. There were so many groups participating: Penticton Indian Band, Ooknakane, The Access Centre, SOSBIS, SOICS, Foundry, Metis Association, Okanagan College, the list really does go on. It was lovely to see how much support there was.

The event was from 3-6 pm and there were so many fun activities for the children; bouncy castles, weaving, coloring stations, crafts, not to mention the music and traditional dances.

The Access Centre was there with information and our entire advocacy team was available to answer questions. For a fun activity, I brought my kicking pad and taught the kids to do Kung Fu kicks and punches on the pad. It was really cute to see how excited they were to hit things, often seeming shy at first but then flipping to serious intensity and focus once they got a taste!

It seemed like the whole community was really elated and happy to be out in public together. The mood was joyous and celebratory. Our team had a wonderful time connecting with other service providers and partners, some of whom we’d only seen on Zoom before, or spoken to in emails. After the long tunnel of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were finally in the light again!

It is my sincere hope that this is simply the first of many new opportunities to gather as a community, share resources, and support each other, and the people we serve.

Thoughts on Penticton’s Housing Crisis

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A letter to the editor from our Poverty Law Advocate, Christie Fiebelkorn:

“In my line of work, we receive countless phone calls from distressed individuals affected by the housing crisis.

The calls we receive range from eviction notices due to reno-victions, homes being sold, motels increasing the weekly rent by 50% with no notice to tenants, or motels giving tenants 48 hours’ notice to vacate. Tenants in motels don’t have protection from the Residential Tenancy Act.

They are the people who work at the grocery store as your clerk, wash your dishes at restaurants, serve your coffee at fast food establishments, or cleaning hotel rooms for out of town guests. They are the people who worked over half their lives in our community and are now facing serious housing insecurity and can’t compete with market prices because pensions are too low. They are single mothers who left abusive relationships and are relying solely on income assistance and child tax. They are those with serious mental illness who rely on disability assistance. They are two parent households working minimum wage jobs just trying to get by and provide for their children. They are care aids caring for our elders, and small business owners.

Penticton seems to not realize that the same people who face housing insecurity are contributing to our local economy, and they deserve to have a safe place to call home. When you lose housing, you lose so much more than a roof over your head. You lose safety and security. You lose the ability to care for yourself and prepare food for yourself.

You can apply for BC Housing, but the wait is years. You can search for market rentals, there are no places to go. There are no places when you are on a fixed, limited, working poor income, or earning just over the poverty line.

When will we as a society hear the need for affordable housing?

It’s easy to place the blame on “laziness” or “choice”. There are some circumstances you simply can’t plan for.

Will we refuse to see the need for change in our community, until we or our loved ones have faced the hopelessness and utter bleakness of the housing crisis?

Open your hearts and eyes to this crisis that is affecting our community. We need sensible leadership to address this. We need affordable housing.”

 

Free Writings from Marginalized Voices

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Today we are sharing some downloadable ‘zines’; short, independent booklets created for public distribution by Indigenous Canadians. Here is a golden opportunity to hear perspectives that are not vetted by the dominant culture, reworded or reformatted for better “palatability”, or making a profit from your attention. Click the links below to check them out.

 

klr-zine

colonization_decolonization

ancestral_pride_zine

 

 

Support for Pathways

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In March, there was some very sad news about our partners at Pathways Addictions Resource Centre in Penticton. Interior Health is reconfiguring its mental health and addiction services and had decided not to continue to fund Pathways for those services, but rather to offer those services itself. This means that Pathways has now lost 90% of its funding to provide those services to the residents of the South Okanagan.

For over 40 years, Pathways has been providing addictions counselling to our community members – not only to addicts, but to their families, employers and the community at large. They have been a valued, trusted and loved resource in our community and a respected partner of Access.

We at Access hear and share the concerns (and sadness) of our clients, co-workers and the community at large in response to this change. While we recognize the right of Interior Health to spend its money as it sees fit and wish them success in their work to provide services in our community, we do have concerns about the consequences of these changes.

While Interior Health will provide counselling services we wonder who will provide the other services provided by Pathways: providing prevention education in schools, assessments for parents who are working to have children returned from Ministry Care, working with corrections and probation and providing service 24/7 when needed.

In addition, we know that it will take time for the community to transfer the trust that Pathways has earned over the last 45 years to a Government agency. We know that there will be needy people who will fall through the cracks and who will not be served for a variety of potential reasons and therefore that the need for Pathways’ services will not disappear. This is especially true now, when Penticton is struggling to cope with the needs of a growing homeless population, many of whom need mental health and addiction services.

We at Access believe that Pathways’ services need to continue and that they need support in their search for new sources of funding to enable them to continue to provide those valuable services.

We urge our supporters to extend their support to Pathways in any way possible: by visiting Pathways’ website (https://www.pathwaysaddictions.ca/), by signing the petition at Change.org (https://www.change.org/p/interior-health-help-save-pathways-addictions-resource-centre), by writing letters of support to the newspaper and their elected officials, or by making a donation (donations directly to Pathways or through Canada Helps will get you a tax receipt, those made through Go Fund Me do not).

Please support this amazing organization that has brought healing and hope to so many in this community over the last 45 years!

-Elmie Saaltink, Chair of the Board

 

What Does a Family Law Advocate Do?

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What is a family law advocate and what are the responsibilities and the mandate of a family law advocate?

I’ll start out by saying that I’m not a lawyer because I am not a member of the Law Society. I am trained by the Law Foundation of BC in trying to try to assist people in most areas of family law. That includes issues with children, guardianship, parenting time, parenting responsibilities, support orders, on occasion, protection orders, assisting with divorce applications and and uncontested divorces. Another area is division of family assets, I can assist people with that where the assets do not exceed $20,000.

Other ways that I can assist individuals is to refer them to other resources in the community. For example, the family duty counsel and the duty counsel lawyers provided by Legal Aid BC at the Penticton courthouse. I also refer to the Family Justice counselor, here in town that will assist in arranging a consent order.

Any questions that I don’t have an answer for I have a supervising lawyer that will come in and discuss legal issues with me on Friday mornings. I also have a family advocate support lawyer in Vancouver that I can access so if there are questions that I cannot answer, I can refer to my resources to get a concrete legal answer for my clients. So if anybody has any family law issue, I welcome them to contact the Access Center and I will interview them and refer them to resources or assist them in any way that I can.

David Desautels

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Call for Action to the Federal Government

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This is a letter we sent out on November 26, 2020

Dear Minister Qualtrough, Minister Hussein, Minister Lebouthillier, and Member of Parliament Richard Cannings:
I am reaching out to you regarding the issue of in-person services for Canada’s Response Benefit claimants and possible solutions moving forward.
I am an advocate at the Penticton & Area Access Centre, a non- profit that aims to alleviate the effects of poverty with marginalized individuals through poverty advocacy, legal advocacy, counselling, and accessing resources in our community. Many of the individuals and families we work with face multiple barriers and struggle to complete government forms and applications due to disability and accessibility reasons. Although a majority of Canadians have access to telephones and computers, this is a very real and tangible obstacle for a sizable population of Canadians such as the ones our organization serves.
Many of the clients we serve worked jobs that are still affected by the COVID closures and need assistance from our office applying for the Canada Response Benefit or Employment Insurance due to lack of in person services being offered at the Government level. There is no opportunity for questions related to the Canada Response Benefit to be answered by a live person in a timely manner. Many individuals who don’t have access to phones or computers come to our offices for assistance with applying for benefits. One numerous occasions I have waited on hold with clients for upwards of two hours to be provided information such as their tax lines in order to apply for a Canada Revenue Agency Account. There have been many times when we have called Canada Revenue Agency with clients that we are disconnected after waiting on hold for long periods of time. Non-profits like ours were already operating at maximum capacity prior to COVID, the closures and reduction in hours of Service Canada has further exacerbated non-profit organizations. With our limited funded capacity, numerous referrals for assistance with accessing CRB benefits and creation of CRA Accounts, and the length of time it takes to assist clients in completing these benefits there may a time in the near future where organizations such as ours will be forced to make difficult decisions and may no longer be able to help with these types of applications. We need a solution to this problem so we can better assist Canadians who are entitled to these benefits.
In the absence of government funded in person support for these programs it would be helpful provide organizations such as ours a direct line to Canada Revenue Agency who’s administering the Canada Response Benefits so we can speak with a live person to get assistance with applications and questions. I know your Government is committed to providing quality and equitable service to all Canadians, particularly those with disability and accessibility challenges. During these unusual and unprecedented times we need creative solutions and action, or help us with another solution. Please hear our request for a direct line to speak with your agents so we can further assist Canadians that are financially vulnerable and on the brink of homelessness access benefits they are entitled to. Please recognize there is a massive service gap that affects some of the most vulnerable Canadians who worked jobs that stimulated our economies in meaningful ways. The pandemic has created so much fear, chaos, and added stress to Canadians, making benefits more accessible to those with multiple barriers would help alleviate some of that. I hope you see this as an urgent situation with a need for immediate response, our offices can be reached directly via telephone at 250-493-6822.
Written by Christie Fiebelkorn-Resource and Referral Advocate

Get Your Dance On at the Access Centre’s Disco

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Disco performer

It’s that time again!

Join us Feb 20th at 6pm for a super fun night at our annual fundraiser. Only $30 for a burger, a beer (or glass of wine) and an evening of live performances, mingling, and dancing. We have had so many wonderful, generous donations to the silent auction plus we have some really great prizes this year! We are accepting cash, debit or credit card. You can purchase tickets at the door, at Lakeside Resort, or through this link:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/access-goes-disco-tickets-86842408983

There are contests for BEST COSTUME as well as BEST DANCE MOVES so come ready to strut your stuff! We only have one fundraiser like this each year so if you would like to support all the good work we do in this community, all while having a good time, please come and enjoy! We hope to see you there.