BC ACORN

Our New 2nd floor office in Metro Vancouver has been busy ever since we moved in in early February of this year. That is because, for the 5th year straight, ACORN Canada’s Free Income Tax Site has been busy doing hundreds of tax returns for members and people in our communities. So far, this year we have done more than 800 tax returns which is an increase of over 30% over our 2010 tax site.

In the 5 years ACORN Canada has done Free Income Taxes in Metro Vancouver we have returned over 6 Million Dollars in tax returns, rebates, and benefits! Add to this that we have saved people $400,000 in tax preparation costs and it is clear that ACORN Canada is a major stimulus to the neighbourhoods where we work!

But that is just the beginning. Our free income tax site gives our members a great opportunity to share their campaigns with people who come to get their taxes done. Our new campaign for Remittance Justice is becoming a very popular topic of serious discussion in the office. Many new people coming in to get their taxes done feel the pain of the exorbitant costs of sending money transfers back to their families and friends. And better still, they are getting involved with ACORN Canada’s campaign for regulatory changes to the Money Transfer Industry.

Regulations that will hold banks and companies like Western Union to account for the predatory business practices here in BC.

We like doing your taxes and if you know anyone who has a simple tax return in need of filing just call 604 5221

Municipal Briefing Notes

LW Open Letter Municipal Candidates FINAL

Ccpa Living Wage 2010 Final Draft

The time has come for Surrey to follow the lead of New Westminster and endorse a living wage policy.

A “living wage” is meant to reflect the actual income required for a two-earner, two-child household to live above the poverty line. Adopted at the civic level, it would apply to anyone working for the city. As most city staff are all already above this level, the policy is aimed at independent contractors working for the city.

The living wage policy passed unanimously by New Westminster council last year will see workers paid at least $16.74 per hour. Last month, Esquimalt passed a similar policy, and the municipalities of Cowichan, Williams Lake, and Cranbrook are considering it.

Living wage policies are currently being advocated for by ACORN Canada, the B.C. Federation of Labour, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the latter having recently calculated that a living wage for families is $18.17 an hour in Vancouver and $17.30 in Victoria.

If Surrey were to do the right thing and endorse such a policy, it would not be the first time.

In 1993, Surrey Civic Electors councillor Gary Robinson and then-mayor Bob Bose were successful in implementing a living wage for the city. At the time, Robinson explained that contractors providing flag services for the city were paying substandard wages to their employees, the majority of whom were women.

The time has come for Surrey to follow the lead of New Westminster and endorse a living wage policy.

A ‘living wage’ is meant to reflect the actual income required for a two-earner, two-child household to live above the poverty line. Adopted at the civic level, it would apply to anyone working for the city. As most city staff are all already above this level, the policy is aimed at independent contractors working for the city.

The living wage policy passed unanimously by New Westminster Council last September will see workers paid at least $16.74 per hour. This month, Esquimalt passed a similar policy, and the municipalities of Cowichan, Williams Lake, and Cranbrook.

Living wage policies are currently being advocated for by ACORN Canada, the BC Federation of Labour, and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the latter having recently calculated that a living wage for families is $18.17 an hour in Vancouver and $17.30 in Victoria.

If Surrey were to do the right thing and endorse such a policy, it would not be the first time.

In 1993, Surrey Civic Electors Councillor Gary Robinson and Mayor Bob Bose were successful in implementing a living wage for the city. At the time, Robinson explained that contractors providing flag services for the city were paying sub-standard wages to their employees, the majority of whom were women.

SCC Councillor Bob Bose will table a motion in the next few weeks to Surrey Council to revive this idea.

Full article at: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/business/year+firsts+Royal+City/4036564/story.html#ixzz19XEsiPGU

BC Stats on Minimum Wage Impact (CAN)

October 12th by Michael McQuillan in the New Westminster Newsleader

A landlord who is evicting a 63-year-old woman from her New Westminster apartment did not meet an order from the city and the Fraser Health Authority to make the woman’s suite safer.

According to Fraser Health, the landlord was unable to comply because they could not get access to Catherine Battersby’s suite. But the woman’s son, Sean Neilson, says the landlord never contacted her before the deadline.

Van-East Investors Inc. of Vancouver was given until Sept. 30 to have a pest control company deal with a mouse infestation and correct sanitation problems in Battersby’s Carnarvon Street apartment.

After an inspection by Fraser Health and a City of New Westminster bylaw officer, the property owner was issued the compliance order Sept. 16.

“My mother has had to deal with mice and black mould since the day she moved in here,” said Neilson. “And all those times we’ve complained and nothing has been done.”

The pest control company finally got into Battersby’s apartment and other problem suites in early October. The company is using traps and bait to rid the apartments of the rodents, says Fraser Health.

“That won’t do much good if the mice are living in the walls,” said Neilson, who is now paying his mother’s $690 monthly rent.

Neilson says he is also going to fight his mother’s eviction notice and already has an Oct. 18 date scheduled for a Residential Tenancy Branch arbitration meeting.

Battersby, who suffers from spinal stenosis—a gradual narrowing of the spinal canal that can cause pain and weakness—enlisted the help of ACORN Canada in early September. ACORN has fought for low income tenants in New Westminster in the past.

The group staged a rally Sept. 10 on her behalf—after she was given the eviction notice so the landlord could renovate the suite.

ACORN spokesperson Amanda Boggan said Battersby’s situation highlights the need for policy change at both the municipal and provincial levels.

“We want to see the city create policies that will not give permits to landlords to take on renovations that will result in a tenant’s eviction,” said Boggan.

“And the province needs to put a cap on the increases a landlord can put on a vacant suite. Currently, there are no regulations in place for this.”

— With files from Sean Kolenko

Original article available at: http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/newwestminsternewsleader/news/104780924.html

When asked what direction he thought ACORN Canada should go in the coming years, Pascal Apuwa of Burnaby was clear, “I want my organization - ACORN Canada - to be the strongest advocate for our communities on the issues that matter; an affordable housing strategy, higher wages, and childcare for our families”.

Since Pascal joined ACORN Canada, he’s been a steadfast leader - taking leadership roles in campaigns that span everything from improving the apartment complex where he lives, to the campaigns for a National affordable Housing Strategy, Bill C-304 and  to raise the minimum wage in BC.