The women devoured cherry pies in seconds in the cherry pie eating contest at Cherry Fiesta on July 1. (Richard McGuire photo)
Provincial NDP Leader John Horgan called on Boundary Similkameen MLA Linda Larson in early July to apologize for “insensitive and offensive comments” about the history of residential schools in B.C.
Larson, however, accused the NDP of trying to “play petty partisan politics.”
Larson’s comment came in the form of a question during a hearing of the standing committee on health, which Larson was chairing.
When a witness, Richard Jock, chief operating officer of the First Nations Health authority, raised the legacy of residential schools and their impact on First Nations health, Larson posed her question.
“How long do you think before the legacy of those residential schools finally burns itself out of the First Nations people?” she asked.
Horgan, who was not present during the committee meeting, responded: “A question like that reveals remarkable insensitivity on the part of an elected representative toward the tragic experiences suffered by First Nations people in B.C. residential schools.”
He called on Premier Christy Clark to immediately ask Larson to apologize.
Larson responded: “At that committee meeting we were talking to the health authority about how we can help people. I’m surprised and disappointed that Mr. Horgan would try and use my comments for partisan purposes.”
In response to Larson’s question, Jock, of the First Nations Health Authority, responded that as long as people feel uncomfortable with the system and “feel that institutions are not friendly to them, then I think the legacy will not find its way out of the system.”
“What institutions now are not friendly?” Larson continued. “I mean, the residential schools were horrific. There’s no doubt about that. I have many friends and some have died too young as a result of the connection through their parents. I’m talking generationally. How many generations is it going to take before the words ‘residential school’ no longer play a part in how people feel?”
Jock responded that as long as people feel they are being discriminated against when they attend a hospital or other institution, “we’ll not see the end of that.”
Scott Fraser, the NDP critic for aboriginal relations and reconciliation, took issue with the line of questioning.
“It is wrong to hope that the tragedies of history are forgotten a couple of generations down the line, and try to pretend that they never happened,” Fraser said.
Future generations should know what happened at residential schools, and the repercussions, “so that they don’t make the same tragic mistakes,” he continued. “That is an important part of reconciliation.”
Residential school survivor Bernice Falkus responded angrily to Larson’s comments on Facebook.
“I went to a residential school and this will never burn out of my mind,” she said. “Just the other night I had a nightmare, a real bad one, about the residential school. Why don’t you read about what happened to us, all of us?”
In other news in July, a tentative agreement was reached to avoid a possible labour dispute at Mariposa Gardens residential care facility in Osoyoos.
The deal was reached between senior management and the union representing 120 unionized staff.
A mediator appointed by the provincial Labour Relations Board (LRB) was able to bring the two sides together at an Osoyoos hotel and a deal was reached after several hours of negotiations.
The negotiating teams from the Health Employees Union Mariposa Gardens and from Baybridge/Baltic Properties, which owns and operates Mariposa Gardens, recommended the tentative agreement and the final vote was held on July 19.
Will McKay, the managing partner for Baybridge/Baltic properties, was excited about the deal.
“The mediator brought in was a very experienced labour negotiator and he was able to bring both parties to a meeting of the minds in Osoyoos,” said McKay.
The new two-year contract was retroactive to Dec. 1, when the old three-year contract expired, said McKay.
“Nobody really wants a labour disruption or labour dispute no matter what people might say,” said McKay. “This deal allows us to move forward to the job at hand.”
Tammy Garbutt, a residential care aide who is chair of the union’s bargaining committee, said the union’s negotiating team strongly recommended the members accept the new deal.
The provincial mediator played a huge role in bringing both sides together and hammering out a new deal in a matter of hours, she said.
“The mediator did a great job and made a huge difference in negotiations,” she said.
The best news of all is the residents at Mariposa Gardens will continue to receive outstanding health care services, said Garbutt.
“This is really a great place to work,” she said. “All we wanted is to be fairly compensated for our hard work.”
“The membership was very happy with the deal and they voted 94 per cent in favour of ratification,” said Garbutt following the vote.
It was also announced there would be a school closing in Osoyoos after all as it was confirmed Good Shepherd Christian School would cease operating and wouldn’t be accepting students for the 2016-17 school year.
The school, which has operated under the auspices of Grace Lutheran Church in Osoyoos since 1990, was forced to close due to financial reasons, said Ted Cronmiller, a longtime church member, a member of the congregational voters and former Town of Osoyoos councillor.
The decision to close Good Shepherd was made by a majority of vote of congregational voters, said Cronmiller.
“There were 23 congregational voters at the meeting … and there wasn’t a recorded vote, but the majority were clearly in favour of closing,” he said.
The reason for closing the school was strictly financial and rather complicated, said Cronmiller.
“We were put in this awkward position because there is a large fund that is operated by the Lutheran Church of Canada for churches in Alberta and B.C.” said Cronmiller. “We had to access significant money from that fund every year to operate our schools … and that fund has gone into receivership.
“Without access to that funding, we were put in a tremendous financial bind and the decision was made that we could no longer operate the school here in Osoyoos. We’re (Grace Lutheran Church) is going to be tied up for years trying to get back whatever money we can, but what we call the Church Extension Fund that has been used to fund our schools is in receivership.”
Longtime school principal Angela Westcott, who had done a magnificent job as a teacher and administrator at Good Shepherd, is going to lose her job as well as one other full-time teacher, said Cronmiller.
“It’s just very sad for Angela … she has been fantastic,” he said.
Westcott said she is going to miss her job immensely.
“It’s just very sad that the school will be closing,” she said. “I loved working and teaching there for the past 14 years.”
Over the past 25 years, Good Shepherd had provided quality Christian education to hundreds of students in Osoyoos and the congregation at the church is very proud of the lasting legacy that will be left behind, said Cronmiller.
When the fund used to provide money to schools like Good Shepherd went into receivership, the lack of funding combined with very low enrolment sounded the death knell for the school, he said.
“Like all other schools in the province, low enrolment has become a real problem,” he said. “We were put in a position of not having access to any funding from this school fund and had no other choice but to vote to close the school. No one really wanted to close the school, but we were put in a position where we really had no other choice.”
OSOYOOS TIMES STAFF
Osoyoos Times
Children armed with plastic water guns took on the Osoyoos and Anarchist Mountain firefighters in an epic water fight before the Cherry Fiesta parade on July 1. (Richard McGuire photo)
A good crowd of fruit pickers turned out at Osoyoos Baptist Church in July for free dinner. The church teams up with Mountain Park Community Church from Abbotsford to provide dinner to the pickers through an entire week. (Richard McGuire photo)
MC Clint Hawes was up and dancing with a group of girls during the July Osoyoos Street Dance in the bandshell at Gyro Park. (Richard McGuire photo)
Charlotte King, 10, is surprised by a bolt of water as she tried to fire a cannon at the Osoyoos Splash Park. In July the Town of Osoyoos held a ‘Family Splash Day.’ The park is now in its third year. (Richard McGuire photo)
