There was a poverty reduction public consultation meeting at the Quesnel Native Friendship Centre earlier today.
Executive Director Tony Goulet says it was well attended as about 40 people stopped by between noon and 2 o’clock.
He says they had a number of concerns…
“Of course the big one is applying for assistance on-line, moving to an on-line system that isn’t very friendly and isn’t beneficial, especially when some people don’t have access to the internet or a computer, so that was an interesting discussion. And there was a lot of discussion about the minimum wage and the increases and the increases that are happening to people, such as ICBC and Fortis and how are people going to pay for it.”
Goulet says some people felt that the minimum wage wasn’t going up fast enough and questioned if it will actually get up to 15 dollars an hour.
Affordable Housing, or a lack of it, was also a popular topic…
“Places where they are paying over a thousand dollars for a one bedroom place, so more need for affordable housing.”
Goulet says all of these concerns will now be forwarded to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction.
The Ministry is supposed to put together a report from all of the meetings that have been held throughout the province and also come up with some recommendations.
Something going on in the Cariboo you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing cariboonews@vistaradio.ca.
