Author: Osoyoos Times

An investigation by the provincial government into the June 13 mudslide in Oliver has concluded that “more could have been done to avert the disaster caused by the debris torrent and mudslide.”
A report on the investigation released on July 14 from the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General found that there was a “consistent pattern of concerns and warnings about the state” of the earthen dam on the man-made reservoir on Testalinden Creek that failed and caused the mudslide dating back to at least the 1960s.

“I think generally speaking, when they cheapen the product the overall feeling among some consumers is cherries are cheap,” said Greg Norton, chair of the Okanagan Kootenay Cherry Growers Association. “I really am uncomfortable when these supermarkets do that. It sets a tone that production is cheap.”

Norton is talking about the price of cherries at some of the local grocery stores and how those prices compare to local farm-gate cherry sales.

The best solution to issues surrounding seasonal workers in Osoyoos would be to develop a pickers’ camp like Oliver’s Loose Bay.
That was the consensus from a meeting held in Osoyoos on July 15 attended by 25 representatives from B.C.’s forests and range and environment ministries, the Conservation Officer Service, local RCMP, bylaw enforcement, the B.C. Fruit Growers Association (BCFGA), the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) and the towns of Oliver and Osoyoos.

Flanked by maps showing their territory in B.C. and Washington state, members of the Okanagan Nation Alliance and the Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) signed a Declaration of Unity at Osoyoos’s Spirit Ridge Vineyard and Resort on July 15.
Hundreds of members from bands on both sides of the border, including chiefs, councillors and elders, packed into the resort’s conference room for the signing, which took place as part of the alliance’s two-day annual general assembly.