Kamloops homeless advocate speaking out after Friday arrest outside City Hall

Video of the arrest taken by CFJC Today showed Hilke being asked by Kamloops RCMP officers to leave the greenspace outside City Hall as he did not have a permit for Friday’s event.

Hilke, who previously operated The Loop drop-in centre and the Kamloops Community Meal Train, refused and told officers that he planned to stay for another hour at which point he was cuffed and taken away to the RCMP detachment on Battle Street.

He was released without charges once the demonstration ended so he “couldn’t go back and start serving soup again.”

“Depending on the type of event and business, the City might require a business license and/or a special and one-time Events Organizer license, involving specific requirements for road usage, insurance, traffic plans, and Fire/Safety plans, depending on your event’s scale and activities,” Mo Perri, the city’s Community Services Supervisor, told CFJC by email.

“NOMAD 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.”

Lack of action on day space despite need: Hilke

Speaking to CFJC on Saturday (Dec. 20), Hilke said the issue is not about a permit or his arrest.

“This story is about why do we not have a drop-in centre in Kamloops,” he said. “It’s been 500 days since both drop-in centres at The Loop and the Mustard Seed closed and nothing has been done to even temporarily replace them.”

Hilke likened the lack of a drop-in day space for homeless people to a hospital operating without an emergency room.

“Imagine people just walking the corridors at the hospital saying ‘I broke my ankle’ or ‘I have chest pains, where do I go?’ That emergency room is the first point of entry and a day space is the first point of entry as well,” Hilke added. “When we don’t have that, we have people walking the corridors of the city looking for a place to sleep or a bite to eat.”

Hilke said he sympathized with the police officers who led him away in cuffs Friday, adding he understands that they were “stuck between a rock and a hard place” as they were following orders laid out by their supervisors.

He also accused the city of deferring from the issue at hand, saying those officers could have been tasked to monitor the situation Friday and ensure that all NOMADS volunteers cleared the area at the time they said they would.

“They could have taken that option but the decided they wanted to make it a public event and a law enforcement event when really we’re talking about a human rights event,” Hilke said. “We’re talking about health and connecting people to services.”

Asked why Hilke was arrested instead of being fined and allowed to continue operating Friday, Perri deflected comment to the RCMP. CFJC had previously reached out to the Kamloops RCMP for comment.

Hilke also declined to say whether he was fined as he said he was advised by legal counsel to not discuss that.

People have nowhere to go for services: Hilke

According to Hilke, Friday’s pop-up event was organized as while some city staff and councillors have spoken about the need for a drop-in day space, he noted there appears to be little desire to act on those statements.

He referred to that sentiment as the “gradualism of the process.”

“In other words, this issue has been dragging out for a long time and it is gradually going nowhere,” Hilke said. “That gradualism is something that we really have to be aware of and we have to literally oppose because action needs to be taken now, not six months from here.”

“The evidence is there in terms of the the need for a day space. City managers, CSOs, RCMP, Fire, they’re all saying this. Why isn’t it happening is the question that needs to be addressed by our elected officials.”

Hilke also said without indoor spaces to gather in, people who have nowhere to go are pushed into public spaces to meet their needs – be it using a washroom, charging a phone, sleeping or staying warm.

Winston Smith, who was using Friday’s drop-in service before it was shut down, said there is a feeling among some on the street that the city is working against them, instead of with them.

“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,” Smith said.

“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 also told CFJC that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some on the street resort to crime when they’re left out in the cold.

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

Reese Miyanoto-Mansfield, a volunteer with NOMADS who previously helped out at The Loop, also said Friday their group is trying to fill a need because “no one else was stepping up.”

“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 and gone for years,” Miyanoto-Mansfield said.

“This arrest did not happen in isolation. It happened in a city that has gone more than a year without a dedicated drop-in or day space since their closures in August 2024,” NOMADS added in its statement. “These closures left a significant gap in basic services that has never been replaced.”

Kamloops City Council voted last week to send a letter to the province asking it to help fund a year-round indoor day space. A similar request was made over a year ago, and Councillor Dale Bass – who floated the suggestion – said no response was received.

“Homelessness in Kamloops is a long-term escalating crisis,” Bass said, noting local shelters are over capacity.

Bass’ motion wants the province to provide a “timely, written response outlining next steps for partnership with the city.”

Future Pop-Up Events?

Hilke said he’s grateful for the dozens of volunteers who have continued to push for the establishment of a drop-in day space in Kamloops.

For now, NOMADS is planning to continue operating its temporary outdoor drop-in spaces on the weekends. Hilke said he’ll wait to see how the city responds to Friday’s events before deciding whether to hold another pop-up event on a weekday to continue advocating for a new day space.

“As long as you delay this and keep meeting and only talking about the issues without action, it impacts the entire community whether its the business community, whether its private property owners as well as public spaces,” Hilke said.

– With files from Michael Reeve/CFJC Today

by Victor Kaisar

Kamloops homeless advocate speaking out after Friday arrest outside City Hall

Lack of action on day space despite need: Hilke

People have nowhere to go for services: Hilke

Future Pop-Up Events?

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