West Kelowna Councillors attend the 2022 Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, June 6, 2022

Five of seven West Kelowna Council members attended the first in-person Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference in two years, held in Regina from June 2 – 5. West Kelowna Councillors need their voice heard by the federal government, combined with the leadership and advocacy of FCM, to address long overdue federal funding for attainable housing, escalating policing costs and other important strategic priorities to West Kelowna.

“We really must be united with municipalities across Canada, and together with FCM, to more rapidly invoke federal action and funding to address the growing needs in our West Kelowna community,” says Mayor Gord Milsom. “We may be a small municipality, but we must be louder and we must be heard by the federal government in collaboration with FCM.”

“In West Kelowna, we cannot sit back and not have our voice heard by the federal government about affordable housing when the housing market clearly demonstrates that the term ‘affordable housing’ is neither accurate nor realistic. And offloading back-pay by the federal government to our 14-year young municipality for the RCMP to unionize is simply unreasonable,” says Milsom. “Thankfully, we are moving away from virtual advocacy and we can continue to press on to have important solutions discussed in-person.”

“Council members who attended the various Indigenous peoples exercises, study tours and workshops also learned valuable and applied Truth and Reconciliation examples from the City of Victoria, the City of Edmonton, the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, the BC Friendship Centre and others. Delegates had a chance to speak with leaders who have extremely positive examples advancing Truth and Reconciliation in communities similar to West Kelowna where, for us, one side of the street is municipal and the other is Westbank First Nation. We are excited to bring these successful partnering examples home and create our own West Kelowna and Westbank First Nation strategies together.”

Councillors also attended BC regional caucus meetings, workshops on local solutions to climate change, how municipalities are driving market housing solutions, infrastructure and economy recovery sessions including mosaic stadium, equitable municipal funding, plenary sessions and study tours, such as at the mâmawêyatitân centre, the upgraded wastewater treatment plant and the Brandt Industries site with fully-integrated manufacturing for the agriculture industry.

“The FCM conference seemed to be planned quickly since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted so their efforts should be recognized,” says Milsom. “Mayor Sandra Masters and the City of Regina team were also outstanding hosts; we thank them for their warm welcome and hospitality and invite them to visit the beautiful City of West Kelowna anytime.”