The satellite WorkBC office in Osoyoos is closing at the end of March and anyone needing employment services will need to travel to Oliver. (Vanessa Broadbent photo)

By Vanessa Broadbent

Osoyoos Times

Beginning next month, Osoyoos’ WorkBC office will be closed and anyone needing employment services will need to travel to Oliver.

The provincial Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction announced several changes to local employment services, including the closure of the satellite Osoyoos WorkBC office, effective April 1.

Instead, the office on Fairview Road in Oliver will operate longer hours.

The Ministry issued a notice to employers announcing the closure and stating that starting in April WorkBC will offer better services for people reentering the workforce and improved training opportunities and support finding employment.

Clients will benefit from an “increased focus on getting British Columbians the jobs they need to sustain them and their families,” the notice read.

The closure also coincides with a change in contractor, and Maximus, who operates WorkBC services in Kelowna, will take over the contract with the ministry, previously held by the Open Door Group.

The Open Door Group submitted a proposal to continue providing services, but was not awarded the contract, associate program director Melanie Guza said.

“We have enjoyed our time supporting job seekers and employers in the community over the past years and wish all the best to the new contractor,” she said.

Open Door Group employees have been encouraged to apply to work under Maximus, Guza said.

• Read more: WorkBC thanks employers for hiring local

Walnut Beach Resort is one Osoyoos employer that utilizes WorkBC services, but general manager Don Brogan said he’s dealt mostly with the Oliver office and won’t be affected by the closure of the office in Osoyoos.

He does, however, see a challenge for the local population accessing WorkBC’s services.

“With next to no public transportation options available, and now no WorkBC office in Osoyoos, how do persons looking for work try to access the services and information available to them from WorkBC with no office in the community?” he said.

“If there were a public bus system with regular, timely routes through the South Okanagan, people could more easily access these services or other types when that service chooses to locate in only one of our rural communities.”

Town of Osoyoos CAO Barry Romanko shared concern for the closure and a decrease of local employment services in a report to council, to be presented on Monday, suggesting that the Town write a letter to the Minister, expressing concern and questioning the closure’s positive impact.

“Local employers benefited from having a local office in Osoyoos,” Romanko said in his report.

“There is a need to receive clarity from the provincial government and the Maximus contractor on how services to Osoyoos are being improved with the closure of the Osoyoos office.”

The centralization of services is a decrease of local provincial government services, Romanko said, not an increase as the ministry is promoting.

The Osoyoos Times has reached out to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction for comment.