Editor:
I recently gave a young French Canadian a lift into Osoyoos on my way to work and luckily I speak passable French so was able to give him a lift to the local bottle depot as he and his friends wanted to know where to go to recycle their bottles, etc.
After I dropped him off I realized that I should have gone with him to help him communicate with the people at the recycling depot, as he spoke little to no English and there is no signage in the Town of Osoyoos to help either the French or Spanish workers make their way in the community.
That encounter prompted me to write this letter, as I am concerned for the well being of the young farm workers who make their way to the Okanagan each summer to help bring in the harvest.
In my work as a community Outreach Worker for the Penticton and Area Women’s Centre, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to help in providing these young summer workers with information, help in accessing resources and support them while the weather has wreaked havoc with crops and job options and the service providers in our small communities struggle to meet the demands.
Farm workers, mainly young French Canadians, have been making their way to B.C. to work in the soft fruit industry since the 1960s when the government started encouraging the endeavour as an opportunity for cultural exchange between English and French-speaking Canadians.
In the four decades since, in a country with two national languages, it seems timely to better support this summer migration.
Perhaps some bilingual signage and resource information could help these young people more easily integrate into and navigate through the communities.
Our communities depend on and benefit from government-sponsored work programs that bring in workers to harvest crops each year.
Our challenge is how to create an environment that makes them feel like they belong, thereby encouraging their social investment.
As many of these young French-speaking people are isolated from the communities by language, they may inadvertently isolate themselves further by creating their own insular communities.
This can result in an “us and them” perspective, fostering local concerns about their character or motives and making it easier to overlook or ignore the challenges they face with substandard working and housing conditions.
I would like to encourage us all to take a closer look at the issues challenging the producers and farm workers in our communities, as we are all in this together.
Buffy Marie MacIntosh,
Community Outreach Worker for Penticton and Area Women’s Centre

OSOYOOS TIMES-July 28, 2010

ABSENCE OF SWIMMING BUOYS A PROBLEM

Editor:
I have been working in the tourist industry on motel row for over 10 years now. More bodies are supplied to this unique half-mile beach by these 11 motels than all the other public beaches combined.
Hundreds of children play in this shallow sandy cove that stays shallow over 150 yards from shore.
This year, with no warning to these hotels, the Town of Osoyoos has made an inane decision not to put out the swimming buoys they have supplied in the past.
Now there is no guide for these children to know how far out they are or the boaters to know how far in they should go. When asked why, the Town was up in the air about whose responsibility it is, and I was told they had a call into Transport Canada?
Maybe this confusion should have been resolved in March or April.
I personally have witnessed two very near misses.
Remember the Testalinden Dam and the warning the powers-to-be received? Well Town of Osoyoos, here’s yours.
If you don’t do something about this, this paper will be printing a tragic story before the summer is over.
Mike Clancey,
Osoyoos

OSOYOOS TIMES-July 28, 2010