NOMADS Drop-in Services (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

Nomads Drop-in Services

Arrest of former The Loop operator overshadows calls for community day space in Kamloops

Dec 19, 2025 | 4:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Loop was shut down back in the summer of 2024, after it was declared a nuisance property by the City of Kamloops, leading to the eviction and closure of the only day space in Kamloops on the North Shore.

In the 500 days since, service providers including the Canadian Mental Health Association and others have relayed the need for a day space within the community.

NOMADS Drop-in Services has been working as a mobile day space on weekends, providing those who are homeless with a warm meal, warm clothing and a connection to health services if required. For those who need it, it’s a critical gap in services. 

“You can’t put a value on something like that. That is where people go and that is where people hang out,” said Graeme Green, who told CFJC Today he has been homeless for 10-to-15 years. “And other than that, we had nowhere to go. We were just walking and walking out here and it’s not good. We need somewhere we can go.”

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The Friday (Dec. 19) drop-in at Kamloops City Hall was brought to an abrupt end, as former The Loop operator Glenn Hilke was taken away in handcuffs.

Hilke, who refused to comply with the order to tear down his tents, was arrested for obstruction with bylaw officers on scene confirming he was operating on the property with a proper permit.

“Depending on the type of event and operating a business, the city might require a business license and/or a special and one-time events organizer license, and involving specific requirements for road usage, insurance, traffic plans and fire/safety plans, depending on your event’s scale and activities,” noted Mo Perri, community services supervisor. “NOMADS acts as a service provider offering services to the community without a valid license approved by the city, therefore these type of events would not be permitted.”

The arrest of Hilke may serve as a rallying call for his supporters, but also creates an unnecessary distraction toward the end goal of creating a new day space.

“We were trying to fill a need in our city and nobody else was doing it,” said Reese Miyamoto-Mansfield, who volunteers with NOMADS and previously with The Loop. “There were aspects of The Loop that were flawed but we were trying our best and if the city were to facilitate people who were trained in these aspects, it could have worked. It could have gone for years.”

There is a feel in the street community that the city is working against them, instead of with them.

“The city doesn’t seem to be facilitating. In fact on the contrary, they covered all the plug sockets downtown so we can’t charge our phones. They made it illegal for us to gather anywhere and every time we sit down in a group, we have [Community Services Officers] show up and the police show up,” said Winston Smith, who was using the drop-in service before it was shut down. “You can’t sleep anywhere — they come and kick you awake in the doorway. ‘You’ve got to move along, you’ve got to move along.’ It’s like we are at war and we are the enemy.”

Smith said when left out in the cold with no hope and no help, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some resort to crime.

“If the city doesn’t provide what the people need, the people are going to get it in another way and it will cost everybody more,” said Smith. “It will cost more in health care, legal fees, insurance costs, it’s a snowball effect. A little thing that the city could do to facilitate lives would be to open a day room like we used to have.”