By Jill Sperling

Transit service, emergency preparedness discussed at Community-to-Community forum

Nov 20, 2017 | 2:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — Officials from both the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc and City of Kamloops met today to discuss how to work together to address challenges both communities face.

The semi-annual discussion involved an array of topics, from how to involve the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc in Kamplan discussions to planning for future emergencies. The meeting also featured a presentation on the future bus service connecting the reserve and Sun Rivers to the existing Kamloops transit system.

TIB Manager of Community Services Sarah Candido says the proposed route will take passengers to the Lansdowne transit exhange.

“It was more popular with the Lansdowne exchange being the central place that everybody ended up because it’s closer to Royal Inland Hospital, it’s closer to other medical clinics, grocery shopping, different banks, that kind of thing,” Candido said. “It’s a little bit more convenient as far as essential service delivery goes. That was our main ask for the first round. As this becomes more popular we can always develop more routes as the revenue is there. But as a beginning proofing ground we thought the best connections were to hit those essential services first.”

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Candido says the plan is to have the new service fully operational by next September.

The Community-to-Community forum also focused on the various emergency situations both communities have faced over the last year, specifically the spring flooding, the historic wildfire season, and the critical incident involving a standoff at the G&M Trailer Park. 

Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Assistant Manager of Security, Emergency Management & Maintenance Thomas Blank says some of the challenges the TIB has faced in recent situations include identifying who the local authority is, and not having enough staff members trained in emergency management. 

“Tk’emlups is looking at increasing the amount of staff or team that are going to be in the Emergency Operations Centre, working with Emergency Social Services, Emergency Management BC and the Justice Institute of BC to bring more training into the community,” Blank said. 

Much of the morning discussion revolved around how the City of Kamloops can honour and celebrate Tk’emlups culture through community developments.

Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian says the city may be able to do just that with the old Stuart Wood building.

“The potential for it to be a cultural centre with some people space and place for celebration I think would make some sense, but we have right now a current urgent need for it, and that will last until March 31 when the shelter will be closed, and then we have to go and look beyond that and what would be a different use for this,” Christian said. “It’s really a centre piece in the city of Kamloops, and something that I would like to see get back into circulation, and a real place of celebration for the peoples of the region.”