Increased BC Family Benefit: Supporting Affordability for British Columbians! 🎉

Dear <<First Name>>,

It’s my great pleasure to be with Songhees Nation Chief Ron Sam yesterday morning to announce $4 million in provincial funding to renew the Songhees First Nations sanitary sewer system!

It’s so fitting that we made the announcement in front of the beautiful Songhees Wellness Centre. A space that has been created with an environmentally sustainable mindset.

Through collaboration, local and Indigenous governments are ensuring communities are welcoming and vibrant, while protecting beautiful British Columbia.

I was honoured to attend the 24th annual Fiji festival this past weekend. The theme of the festival this year is paying tribute to the visionary founder, late Mr. Vincent Puran Prakash, affectionately known as "Mr. Smiley." I witnessed the enchanting traditional Fijian ceremonies, and mesmerizing Polynesian, Melanesian, meke, Hawaiian, Bharatnatyam, and ethnic dancers. It was a truly a celebration of Fiji Islands' diverse cultural tapestry!

Here are some things I'd like to share with you from the past week:

Increased BC Family Benefit here to stay

More than 285,000 families throughout B.C. will see bigger payments in their bank accounts starting this month, thanks to the permanently increased BC Family Benefit.

As of July 2023, the benefit increased by an additional $250 per year for a two-parent family of four and as much as $750 for a single-parent family with two children.

Approximately 95% of single-parent families in B.C. get the benefit, with payments averaging $2,254 over the year.

Read more: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023FIN0043-001162

Supports expanding for people in mental-health, substance-use crisis

People in a mental-health or substance-use crisis will have the support of experts as new mobile, integrated-response teams are coming to nine communities throughout the province.

To help people in crisis and to free up police resources to focus on crime, the province is expanding Mobile Integrated Crisis Response (MICR) Teams to Abbotsford, Port Coquitlam/Coquitlam, Burnaby, Chilliwack, Penticton, Vernon, Squamish, Prince Rupert and the Westshore.

Teams provide on-site emotional and mental-health assessments, crisis intervention and referrals to appropriate services in the community.

Read more: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023MMHA0043-001148

Expanded hubs will give more people access to good food

People in the Interior, Lower Mainland, central and north Vancouver Island will have better access to an increased supply of affordable local food with $7.5 million in funding to United Way British Columbia for more local food hubs.

Our government is working with the United Way to expand their successful regional food hubs to help get nutritious food to more people and communities who need it most.

Initiatives like this are necessary to address the problems caused by global inflation, climate disasters, and the long-lasting effects of the pandemic on supply chains which have meant rapidly rising prices at grocery stores.

Read more: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023SDPR0043-001167

New strategy to support B.C. businesses, protect ideas

Entrepreneurs and companies will soon have access to new resources to help them grow and protect their ideas and products with the launch of B.C.’s Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy.

This will increase IP knowledge for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout the province, to make it easier for people to understand and navigate the complicated financial and legal sides of intellectual property.

Our new IP Strategy is a key step to support our thriving creators and innovators in realizing their full potential by providing accessible resources, expert guidance and a supportive ecosystem.

Province sets single-use plastic requirements

A new provincial regulation will expand B.C.’s efforts to tackle hard-to-recycle single-use and plastic items.

The Single-Use and Plastic Waste Prevention Regulation will cover shopping bags, disposable food service accessories, oxo-degradable plastics and food service packaging made of polystyrene foam, PVC, PVDC, compostable or biodegradable plastics.

Focusing on hard-to-recycle single-use and plastic items will help move B.C. to a circular economy where waste and pollution are eliminated, products and materials are kept in the economy through re-use, and natural systems are regenerated.

Upcoming events

I'm here for you

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about any provincial issue, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are here to help you.

My office can be reached at (604) 775-0565 or Anne.Kang.MLA@leg.bc.ca.

Sincerely,

Anne Kang, MLA
Burnaby-Deer Lake

Provincial Government Resources

Visit gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated for your influenza and COVID-19 vaccination info
Call 811 for free-of-charge provincial health information and advice.
Call 211 for free, confidential, multilingual service that links people to resources for help.

Burnaby Family Doctor Resources

To find a family doctor, click here
To find a clinic, click here.
For non-emergency health information and advice, click here.

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