Roughly 40 people showed up on Fortune Drive in Kamloops to rally for senior pension reform.
(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)
March 21, 2024 - 1:58 PM
About 40 senior citizens holding brightly coloured protest signs lined a sidewalk on a busy Kamloops street today fighting for pension reform.
The protestors are part of the Seniors Tin Cup Movement, a group pushing for federal pension reform.
Seniors at the rally today, March 21, held signs reading, “Honk for Seniors Pension Reform” and “Grocery Shopping Shouldn't Make Seniors Cry.”
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Kamloops senior residents Susan Shaw and Jeff Arnold showed up the Senior Tin Cup rally for pension reform.
(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)
“Seniors are not making enough noise and other issues are getting ahead of ours,” protestor Susan Shaw told iNFOnews.ca.
“Reform is important for everyone, even younger ones, they’ll get to this age eventually.”
The Tin Cup Movement was originally started in Vancouver in an effort to raise awareness of seniors living on the financial brink because of fixed pension incomes that are far below the poverty level.
Protestor Jeff Arnold said his contributions to CPP is his money not the government's money.
"My concern is the government mismanaged it. Give me my money back," Arnold said.
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Celeste Fummerton took the reigns to lead the rally in Kamloops.
“I’ve never done anything like this before, I did worry no one would show up,” she said. “This is a big turnout and hopefully just the beginning of a bigger movement.”
The senior protestors cheered as music played and cars honked in support.
Many in attendance discussed issues like how the cost of an average rental compares to a senior’s fixed income, the growing risk of homelessness for seniors and the need for seniors to come together as a group and voice their needs.
“It’s outrageous. I hope this will be the beginning of a movement across Canada which will benefit everyone,” Arnold said.
Kamloops BC United MLA Peter Milobar meet the group to show his support for the movement.
The organizer for a rally in Kamloops for pension reform, Celeste Fummerton (left) with BC United MLA Peter Milobar.
(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)
Similar rallies were held in seven BC cities, including Vernon where organizer Carole Fawcette lead a march along 30 Avenue and said roughly 80 people showed up.
“I was blown away, there were so many people, it was great,” Fawcette said. “People were driving by honking. We’re planning to do this again in June, we’re not letting up on this cause.”
Seniors are one of the biggest cohorts facing homelessness with many living on the financial brink after working for decades. For many seniors the cost of rent has risen to more than the benefits coming in.
An aging population and rising costs of living along with inadequate incomes for seniors is creating a housing crisis with the average senior spending 78% of their income on rent, according to a report by United Way BC.
Many seniors are struggling to survive on a combined income from their pension, old age security benefits and guaranteed income supplement that amounts to roughly $18,000 per year, far below the poverty line, and an increasing number of them are on the verge of homelessness for the first time in their lives.
The Seniors Tin Cup Movement was named after the idea seniors will be standing on corners begging with tin cups in order to survive.
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