File photo (Image Credit: Curtis Goodrum/CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

Maternity Matters

Second Maternity Matters Kamloops rally set for Saturday

Nov 25, 2025 | 11:54 AM

KAMLOOPS — An advocacy group that’s calling for a solution to the ongoing maternity crisis at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops is holding a second rally.

In a post to social media, Maternity Matters Kamloops says a rally will be held on the 300-block of Columbia Street on Saturday (Nov. 29) from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

It’s the same location outside of RIH where hundreds of Kamloops residents gathered for a similar rally that was held one month earlier.

“Kamloops, we genuinely did not want to hold another rally. We had hoped meaningful change would happen before [the month’s end] so this gathering could be cancelled. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened — so we are showing up once again,” Maternity Matters states. “We are stronger, louder and more visible when we show up as a community. Your presence directly fuels this advocacy.”

The initial rally on Oct. 25 was organized after word got out that all seven obstetrician gynecologists (OB-GYNs) at RIH announced plans to resign. Those physicians said they’ve been forced to “ration care” and that their notice to resign was handed in after years of asking for help.

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Speaking to CFJC Today earlier this month, Interior Health CEO Sylvia Weir said there were five obstetricians who had expressed interest in coming to Kamloops. Ideally, the health authority would like to see 10 obstetricians for RIH.

Describing itself as a grassroots collective comprised of local advocates, birth workers, parents and community builders, Maternity Matters Kamloops says it is “concerned and outraged by the dangerous inaction of Interior Health and the Ministry of Health in addressing the dire state of maternity care in Kamloops.”

The group has six calls for action that it hopes to see addressed including a stabilization of staffing levels, 24/7 access to safe, local labour and delivery at RIH, the rebuilding of collaborative team-based care and accountability for people in charge.

Interior Health accepted the resignations of the RIH obstetricians. If a solution can’t be reached, those doctors are set to be done with in-hospital and surgical privileges in early 2026.