Chief and Council

OKIB and RDNO Reach Agreement for Maintenance of Sandy Beach

Health Department and OHS staff cooperated to develop safe reopening procedures and we need your help.

OKIB Administration has been carefully preparing a budget for Council and membership in light of the COVID-19 funding form Indigenous Services Canada. In the very beginning, staff put forth an interim budget of $350,000 to be spent on increasing our complement of health services staff to deal with the pandemic and to ensure food security in the community.

Chief Byron Louis on behalf of Council talks about the financial supports available to members, and how OKIB is allocating financial resources during the pandemic, which includes emergency funding for these priority areas: - Primary health care + $100,000 - Food security + $100,000 - Home and Community Care and mental wellness + $150,000 If you need help applying Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) - $2,000 or the one-time support of $1,000 on top of Child Benefit and GST top-ups please contact us. OKIB will help any member who is out of work to access these funds. Call the Social Development office at 236-599-7024 or email [email protected]

Chief Byron Louis is quoted extensively in this informative article from The Narwhal about balancing Indigenous food security with conservation.

Today Chief and Council of the Okanagan Indian Band requested that all non-Okanagan and non-residents (tourists/visitors) stay away from Okanagan Indian Band reserve lands during the current COVID-19 pandemic.