New mayor-elect Reid Hamer-Jackson and returning city councillor Dale Bass have battled over his proposed treatment centre in Rayleigh (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

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KAMLOOPS — Mayor-elect Reid Hamer-Jackson didn’t hold back on Saturday night when asked about working with re-elected councillor Dale Bass.

“Anyone who takes someone who’s trying to do something good, trying to get people help into recovery centres, and gets on the air and says that you’re trying to round people up, fence them off and put them in concentration camps, I really think she needs to take a good look at herself,” he told the media.

Hamer-Jackson would like an apology from Bass before moving forward.

“I think it starts with someone apologizing. She’s got to apologize to me because she’s very well aware that I had no intention of that at all,” Hamer-Jackson told CFJC Today. “Anybody that does that to a citizen and if they’re on my team, I’m going to be really upset about it because it puts that person at risk.”

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Bass doesn’t understand why Hamer-Jackson has a problem, given they disagree on one issue. Bass also doesn’t regret calling the proposed treatment centre in Rayleigh a “concentration camp.”

“No, because what was being discussed, and Mr. Hamer-Jackson doesn’t seem to realize I was referring to the push on that really angry [Citizens for Change] Facebook page to build out there, to ship everyone out there, to force them into the centre, to tell them to take treatment or to go to jail. That is the definition of a concentration camp,” said Bass.

However, that is not Hamer-Jackson’s vision at all, he said. He wants to encourage people off the streets and into recovery, not forcing them to go. He would also consult with the residents of Rayleigh.

“The people of Rayleigh, I want to let them know that it’s just one area where we’ve got 260 acres that city real estate suggested. It would be with lots of consultation. Talk about a camp, look at what they dropped in Westmount there. It looks like a cage. It’s terrible,” he said.

Bass responded, “He will learn, once he’s in office, that we can’t build up there. We can’t build what they want there. I’m still pushing for a treatment centre here in Kamloops. I’m optimistic we’ll hear very soon on something. That might help move this whole discussion forward.”

Hamer-Jackson says he’s talked with councillors like Bill Sarai and Katie Neustaeter. He’s willing to work with everybody on the new council, including Bass, who says everyone needs to come together for the greater good of Kamloops.

“In the end, that’s our job. We ran to make the city better and that’s what we all want to do. So we just find that and do it,” she said.

Hamer-Jackson added, “Everybody doesn’t have to get along all the time. You have your little battles. It’s no difference if you are on a hockey team. You have your battles. When you have 100,000 people, and some people feel you have a day lodge when we’ve already got day lodges in every one of the facilities around here is a good idea, some people don’t, and that’s when you’ve got to sit and talk about things.”