Although the Osoyoos Baptist Church is hosting its weekly dinners again this year, camping for seasonal fruit pickers is not available on church property. Hundreds showed up to the June 8 dinner, served by members of the church’s congregation. (Dale Boyd / Osoyoos Times)

By Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times

After taking a year to redevelop, the camp behind the Osoyoos Baptist Church for fruit pickers will return in 2020. 

The church is still hosting their Saturday night dinners, but have kept campers out of the church’s back lot this summer with the intention of putting up fencing and other amenities in response to concerns from neighbours in the area.

“We just want to do it better than we did it last year. To repeat last year wasn’t a good idea, that’s why we didn’t (have the camp) this year. The town made provisions, we just decided not to take advantage of it,” Pastor Phil Johnson said.

The church hopes six-foot fences, numbered stalls and management of the area used as a seasonal campground will curb the issues seen in years past. 

“We intend to do it on a proper scale so we don’t upset the neighbours,” said Rick Glover, part of the leadership team and responsible for missional outreach with the Baptist Church.

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The church hosted around 200 campers total last year, and visitors from 40 different countries used facilities or grabbed a meal at the church.

“The neighbours had a bit of a problem with crowds, we felt bad helping all these people out and making our neighbours mad, so what’s going to happen eventually, this fall or next spring, we are going to build a six-foot fence all the way around,” Glover said.

While there were initially worries that the dinners would suffer low attendance due to the lack of on-site camping, hundreds showed up for a free meal on June 8. 

Tim Barager, originally from Nova Scotia, has returned to Osoyoos for the last few years to work in the orchards. The meals provided at the Baptist Church were crucial in those early years for Barager and still help him out to this day.

“At first it was good, even these days it’s always a help to get extra calories. Even just not having to cook because we’re tired. The nutrition does slip for some people, me included,” Barager said.

He camped behind the church last year as part of his fruit picking journey, following the harvest north, but Barager along with other migrant workers has been camping in orchards or on Crown land in the area.

Hundreds gathered at the Osoyoos Baptist Church on June 8 for the weekly dinner for seasonal migrant workers. (Dale Boyd / Osoyoos Times)

He said there is a need for a clean campsite in Osoyoos, where many migrant workers come at the beginning of the season due to the early harvest. He is grateful the church has provided a spot in the past.

“I know they don’t have to do it, but they always go out of their way with the showers and everything,” Barager said. “I know they’re working on zoning or something, but it’s super cool, we do need a good camp spot when we’re passing through. Sometimes you can’t go on the orchards.”

Manny Carl, who has picked fruit in the Okanagan for years, originally from Nova Scotia as well, has been using his vehicle to camp.

He originally came to the Okanagan due to a lack of jobs when he was living Quebec.

He agreed with Barager a campsite in the area for transient workers is needed.

“Why does it have to be a church? There are millionaires all over the valley, we need a clean facility,” Carl said. 

The issue of where to house transient, seasonal workers is not one for the church to solve, Johnson said. While researching the issue his secretary came across a plan for a campsite facility for transient workers abandoned by the regional district 10 years ago.

“The problem of a picker camp really is a regional district problem. It’s a city problem because that’s where all the kids hang out, but most of the farms are in the regional district,” Johnson said.