Okanagan

• Okanagan Syilx Territory, Westbank BC, Dec. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The BCFNJC and FNLC Congratulate Honourable Leonard Marchand, Jr.’s Appointment as Chief Justice of the B.C.
• Supreme Court and the Yukon Court of Appeal
  Okanagan Syilx Territory, Westbank BC: The BC First Nations Justice Council (BCFNJC) and the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) celebrate the Honourable Leonard Marchand, Jr.’s appointment as Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court and Chief Justice of the Yukon Court of Appeal.
• In 2021 Chief Justice Marchand became the first First Nations person appointed to the B.C.
• Court of Appeal, in 2017 Chief Justice Marchand was appointed as the first First Nations Justice to the B.C.

• CALGARY, AB, Oct. 13, 2023 /CNW/ - ATB Wealth is pleased to announce the grand opening of its Kelowna, British Columbia location.
• For over two decades, ATB Wealth, the wealth management division of ATB Financial, has remained committed to the core belief that everyone should have access to financial planning expertise to enhance their quality of life.
• ATB Wealth Kelowna is proud to offer comprehensive wealth management support including holistic financial planning, investment solutions, private investment counsel, institutional portfolio management, and group wealth services.
• "ATB Wealth has a long history of empowering our clients to dream big, navigate increasingly complex lives and make confident financial moves into the future," says Ursula Holmsten, CEO of ATB Wealth.

• OSOYOOS, BC and OROVILLE, WA, Sept. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Those interested in the water levels, Zosel Dam operations and other projects and initiatives by the International Osoyoos Lake Board of Control are invited to attend a public meeting in Osoyoos, British Columbia, on October 4, 2023.
• The board also will discuss Okanagan and Similkameen basin water management, hydrologic monitoring, an ice jam project and other issues.
• The International Osoyoos Lake Board of Control oversees the operation of Zosel Dam to manage water levels in Osoyoos Lake, which crosses the British Columbia-Washington border.
• Annual public board meetings alternate each year between Osoyoos, British Columbia, and Oroville, Washington.

• However, while many have been able to evacuate and receive help, migrant workers have been coping with the effects of the fires with relatively little support.
• Temporary migrant workers in the Global North are already highly vulnerable to abuse in the workplace and hazardous working conditions.
• Shortly before the wildfires erupted, our research team was travelling across the Okanagan Valley meeting with migrant workers and interviewing community organizations and farmers.

Poor working conditions

• Migrant workers also reported bad and unhealthy housing conditions and major obstacles to accessing health care.
• Some also said they feared reappraisal and dismissal if they refused the hazardous working conditions and strenuous days.
• Many temporary migrant workers were classified as essential workers during the COVID-19 lockdowns and continued to work during the worst days of the pandemic.
• As the crisis was unfolding, we reached out to the migrant workers we had interviewed a few days before the wildfires.
• Javier Robles, a community organizer with KCR Community Resources in Kelowna, said of the migrant workers:
  “They are the backbone of our economy.

Unfair immigration policies

• The vulnerability of the migrant workers in Canada is directly linked to the immigration program through which they are hired, which provide them few legal protections and rights.
• Most migrant workers in the Okanagan come through the Temporary Foreign Worker program.
• Or perhaps people think we do not have anything to say?” Migrant workers in Canada are sadly not alone in not being heard.
• Migrant workers in Hawaii are now in limbo after wildfires devastated the historic city of Lahaina.
• Governments must urgently revise immigration policies to ensure that migrants, regardless of their legal status, are able to ask for and receive the support they need during times of crisis.