Did you know disabled workers can only earn $16,200 a year before they lose access to their disability benefits? And when they lose access to their disability benefits it sometimes can mean they lose access to other entitlements such as housing.

Living Wage Employers who want to do the right thing face a difficult dilemma – do they pay their disabled staff less by offering them fewer hours than their non-disabled peers or do they let their staff lose access to the support they’re entitled to?

We’ve partnered with Living Wage for Families BC and BC Poverty Reduction Coalition on an open letter to Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson, to ask her to use the upcoming review of the Poverty Reduction Strategy to remove these restrictions and allow disabled workers to earn a Living Wage. 50 other employers have also signed the letter.

Read the letter and share: https://www.livingwageforfamilies.ca/openletter

Press release: https://tinyurl.com/3kykdkpz

June 21^st is National Indigenous Peoples Day (#NIPD), which celebrates the culture, heritage, societal contributions and resilience of First Nations, Inuit and Métis across the country.

Indigenous Tourism BC has compiled a list of some key NIPD events in BC, which you can find here. Many are free. We encourage you to check out these or other events where you live.

We’d also like to highlight the work of two of our community partners:

• Our Access RDSP partner Indigenous Disability Canada / British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (IDC/BCANDS) celebrates their 33rd year of successfully delivering Indigenous disability programs and services across Canada this year! Learn about their work here: https://www.bcands.bc.ca/.
• Our Tax AID partner Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society is hosting an NIPD celebration tomorrow in Kelowna. Details here. They are also celebrating an anniversary this year: their 50^th! Learn about their work here: http://www.kfs.bc.ca/.