File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

Kamloops Cancer Centre

Construction of Kamloops cancer centre set to begin

Jul 23, 2025 | 11:22 AM

KAMLOOPS — Ground will be broken on the long-awaited Kamloops cancer centre Thursday (July 24) morning.

The B.C. government has scheduled a news conference to mark the start of construction at the Westlands site on Royal Inland Hospital’s campus.

Health Minister Josie Osborne and Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma will be in attendance, along with representatives from Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, Interior Health and BC Cancer.

A media advisory issued Wednesday doesn’t list representatives from the City of Kamloops or the Thompson Regional Hospital District (TRHD). As of publication, Kamloops council’s Safety and Security Select Committee is slated for 10:00 a.m. Thursday, the same time as the groundbreaking ceremony.

In a post to social media, Merlin Blackwell, vice chair of the TRHD, said he and TRHD chair Mike O’Reilly will be in attendance in their respective roles, and as members of the Cancer Can’t Wait advocacy campaign.

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The groundbreaking comes three days after Osborne was in Kamloops to announce the formal launch of the CRCL program in the city.

On Monday, the health minister was asked about the potential redesign of the Kamloops cancer centre to include room for a PET-CT scanner, but was adamant in the province’s stance that it’s not possible. The lack of a PET-CT scanner has been a contentious issue among local mayors, councillors, regional directors and First Nations communities. The Kamloops centre will be the only one out of four currently being built that will not be equipped with a PET-CT scanner.

The BC NDP’s promise of a cancer centre in Kamloops originated in the 1990s, but was reignited in 2020 during former premier John Horgan’s visit to Thompson Rivers University ahead of the 2020 provincial election.

In May 2023, former Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the concept plan for the Kamloops cancer centre was approved. He announced the business case was complete months later in January 2024.

The $359-million project will be split between the province, Interior Health and the Thompson Regional Hospital District. The province said the Kamloops cancer centre will feature:

• space for radiation treatment
• radiation-therapy planning
• a CT simulator, an outpatient ambulatory-care unit
• 10 exam rooms
• two consultation rooms for radiation-therapy services
• an additional MRI suite
• patient arrival and check-in areas
• a 470-stall parkade
• sacred space for patients, caregivers and staff, with features to support traditional Indigenous ceremonies

Construction of the Kamloops cancer centre is expected to be complete in 2028. The initial goal was to welcome patients by 2027.