Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir and Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian (Image Credit: CFJC Today / File Photo)

By Michael Reeve

CAMA AWARDS

Kamloops, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc win national municipal collaboration award

May 18, 2022 | 3:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc have received national recognition for their building relationships toward reconciliation partnership from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).

The communities were presented with the first-ever 2022 CAMA collaboration award for a partnership between municipalities and external partners during a virtual awards of excellence ceremony.

The Collaboration Award of Excellence recognizes an exemplary partnership of an innovative, collaborative initiative where the outcome has demonstrated mutual benefits to all partners.

The relationship between the two parties is long-standing and continuing to flourish thanks to reconciliation. Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir noted the importance of their relationship through the discovery of unmarked graves at the residential school site.

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“We truly leaned on them, and they were there and reaching out to support any way they could. And for that I am truly forever grateful as well. I know our community, our survivors, our staff, everybody so appreciates that. I know it’s times like that, I look at us also as family,” said Casimir.

Mayor Ken Christain added that the City acknowledges there have been learnings along the way in building and stewarding the relationship. Thanks to that relationship, he feels the partnership can continue to grow.

“We want to celebrate together. Whether it’s having Tk’emlúps at our Canada Day celebrations or veteran dinner. Or whether it’s are attending the pow wow or Truth and Reconciliation ceremonies at Tk’emlúps, we do that and we make that a priority. I think that helps us build our relationship and we will continue to do that,” said Christian.