(Image Credit: Mark Brett / Canadian Forces Snowbirds / Facebook)

By James Peters

Snowbird Crash

Mayor recommends memorial for Snowbird captain in newly-created park near Kamloops Airport

Jun 12, 2020 | 11:27 AM

KAMLOOPS — It has been four weeks since Capt. Jennifer Casey died in Brocklehurst, and the City of Kamloops is now beginning to work on a memorial for her.

Casey died May 17 when she ejected from a Canadian Forces Snowbirds jet shortly after takeoff from Kamloops Airport. The jet crashed into a residential area while the pilot, Capt. Richard MacDougall, survived the incident.

In a memo to council ahead of next week’s regular meeting, Mayor Ken Christian says a permanent memorial would be erected in place of the spontaneous, community-created memorial that arose near the airport after the crash.

Council will discuss Christian’s recommendation that staff come up with plans for a memorial in consultation with Capt. Casey’s family and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

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He suggests it could be placed in the new Observation Park, already planned for the end of one of the airport’s runways as part of the City’s Airport Gateway Corridor improvement project.

Christian notes he has met with RCAF commander Lieutenant-General Al Meinzinger and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, and both said they “would welcome a permanent remembrance.”