YORKTON — BGC Yorkton says it needs to have its Canada Summer Jobs Grant funding restored to continue offering its summer program next year.
CEO Lorraine Oranchuk said they have already started with advocacy efforts to get the funding restored because they don’t know if they will receive anything in 2026.
“Last year we unexpectedly didn’t get funding, but we found a way to still be able to provide a program. We put a plea out to the community, and people came forward to provide support, and we ended up pulling together enough money,” said Oranchuk. “We had already filled our program with kids, and weren’t about to leave families high and dry.”
Oranchuk said BGC Yorkton needed to make up $35,000 to cover the minimum wage portion of staffing costs after it lost the Canada Summer Jobs funding. Anything beyond the $35,000 would be covered by the organization. She pointed out other federal government funding cuts occurred in the last 18 months, and trying to find the money to keep up with the other cutbacks has been a challenge.
“We’re still trying to find money to fill those other shortfalls as well, but it ended up being enough for the Canada Summer Jobs shortfall,” said Oranchuk.
The summer program runs for two months. Oranchuk noted more than 50 kids went through the program in 2025.
“We provide a safe place for kids to be so that their parents can be at work,” said Oranchuk. “When school’s out and they don’t have a place to be, they need to be somewhere that’s not only safe but that’s also engaging, where they’re still socializing, they’re being physically active, they’re taking part in literacy activities.
“They’re still learning and growing and developing throughout those summer months. The types of programming that we offer are crucial to keeping those kids engaged and involved in safe activities.”
If BGC Yorkton doesn’t get the funding for 2026, it won’t be able to pull off a “last-minute miracle” two years in a row, she said.
“We will not open summer registration until we have confirmation on our application from Canada Summer Jobs. So where normally we would open registration in March and have people lined up and offered jobs by March – people would know if they were working for us or not – we just can’t take that risk,” she said.
Oranchuk said the organization had received the funding for more than 30 years.
She asks stakeholders, parents who access the program and community members who see value in it to send a letter to Yorkton-Melville MP Cathay Wagantall on why she should advocate for the summer program.
They spoke with the MP prior to last summer when the funding was not renewed, but they haven’t reached out to the office for 2026.
Oranchuk said other people also reached out to Wagantall on BGC Yorkton’s behalf.
