This Sunday (November 24, 2019) a petition opposing the non-abstinence-based housing facility on McCurdy Rd will be officially handed off to MLA Norm Letnick for presentation in the BC Legislature. Letnick will then transport, and personally present, the petition to the BC Legislature on Monday (November 25, 2019) following the question period.
The petition, now at well-over 14,000 signatures, sends a loud message of just how strongly the voting and taxpaying residents of Kelowna are opposed to the placement of a non-abstinence-based facility in close proximity to thousands of innocent and vulnerable children, youth and seniors.
Audra Boudreau, a local resident and single mother, launched the petition this past summer. Together with a group of concerned citizens, she collected in the neighbourhood of 14,000 original signatures in a very short time-span. Audra will announce the official number at the handoff on Sunday.
It is her hope, due to the overwhelming opposition to the facility’s type and location, that the BC government will change the designation of the McCurdy facility to something more suited and appropriate to its immediate proximity to children and seniors, such as low-income housing for single parents, students or seniors. Such a change would enrich the neighbourhood, and help those who are housing-insecure without placing thousands of vulnerable children and seniors in the immediate vicinity at risk of harm.