Proposed Healing House location. (Image Credit: TNRD)

By Victor Kaisar

Tkemlúps Healing Centre

Construction on proposed Tkemlúps healing centre expected to begin in 2025

Nov 21, 2024 | 4:52 PM

KAMLOOPS — A healing centre and elders’ lodge for Tkemlúps te Secwépemc (TteS) members and others impacted by Canada’s Residential School System cleared a public hearing Thursday afternoon (Nov. 21).

Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) directors gave the proposal to rezone a 10.5-hectare riverfront property at Miner Road and Shuswap Road, east of Kamloops, their stamp of approval.

Speaking during the public hearing Thursday, TteS member Jeanette Jules told the TNRD board that construction on the healing centre could begin as soon as next year.

“The initial phases of the program will focus on elders and residential school survivors — ‘warriors’, as they like to be called,” Jules said. “The vision of the project is to provide a safe space for holistic healing though reconnection to family.”

“It is not a detox centre. It’s not a treatment centre for drugs and alcohol. It is a place of healing,” Tkemlúps Tkwenem7íple7 (Councillor) Dave Manuel added. “We’re talking about mental healing, our emotional healing, our physical healing, our spiritual healing — the holistic approach.”

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“That’s what makes this special for us because we do that work with programming but also the connection with the land and the language.”

Proposed Healing House location. (Image Credit: TNRD)

Manuel says while Tkemlúps is leading the way with the proposed healing centre, he expects there will be other similar projects across B.C. in the future.

“This is a long term process of healing and so what we need to do is get the support of the people for projects like this because there are going to be other ones in the province,” Manuel added.

“We’re supporting our survivors and our families to be able to help with that healing and this is why we’re breaking ground and we’re developing something that has never been developed before especially in this region.”

Last month, the TNRD board gave first and second reading to the rezoning application for the property, which was previously part of the historic Harper Ranch. The property is now one of several that comprises the Spiyu7ullucw Ranch which is owned and operated by TteS.

In addition to the healing centre and the elders’ lodge, TteS is also proposing to develop multiple four-plex housing units on the property as well as to demolish an existing dwelling that was used by a former caretaker. It is also proposing new agricultural uses including community gardens and traditional medicine crops.

According to a TNRD staff report, the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) approved an application to allow the healing centre to move ahead.

“Despite the owner’s comprehensive development request, the ALC stated in their resolution that a future ALC application is required for the housing component of this project, so long as the Property remains subject to the Agricultural Land Commission Act (ALCA),” the staff report said.

A map showing the area where non-farm use was allowed by the Agricultural Land Commission. (Image Credit: TNRD)

In 2023, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu announced that the federal government would provide $12.5 million towards the healing centre, fulfilling a promise made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a visit to Tk’emlúps in 2021.