Mayor Ken Christian with Stella Black at the 2022 Kamloops Exemplary Service Awards. (Image Credit: Olsen Imaging)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

FREEDOM OF THE CITY

“I am honoured by it”: Stella Black becomes latest Freedom of the City recipient in Kamloops

Apr 21, 2022 | 3:41 PM

KAMLOOPS — Stella Black may have thought the ‘career chapter’ of her life was over, but this week the City showed it hasn’t forgotten what she’s done to better the community – awarding Black with the Freedom of the City.

“It’s been a very humbling experience but I am honoured by it,” Black told CFJC Today. “And I guess it makes you think about how others see you – that you don’t see yourself with your accomplishments.”

Black has served on the BC Cancer Board of Directors, volunteered with several non-profits, and helped expand Cariboo College into what is now Thompson Rivers University. She began her nursing career at Royal Inland Hospital and eventually worked through the ranks to become the Executive Director of acute care for the hospital.

“Our prime focus is looking after patients,” Black says while reflecting on her time reviewing healthcare staffing. “And when that gets lost I think everything else goes with it.”

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Dr. Richard Brownlee has known Black for more than 25 years, and feels the Freedom of the City designation is fitting.

“Stella is a very organized person, and she’s very well informed about everything. The economics that go along with healthcare, all the union type of stuff, so she knows how to run a really tight ship,” he says.

Watching Black’s work in healthcare and beyond, Dr. Brownlee says she put her whole life into serving the community.

“She really dedicated herself to the hospital especially,” says Brownlee. “And I think she’s really had some concerns about how our healthcare system is really declining, and I really think she would be a very good resource for politicians to approach in terms of ideas of how to fix not just the system locally but provincially and even federally.”

Black is technically retired but remains active. She regularly attends Blazers games and uses her extensive Kamloops knowledge to help with archives at the university. She’s also expressing interest in getting involved with city history projects.

“Yeah, the historical things. I saw a thing in the paper that the City was looking for some volunteers so I just might bite on that, I’m not too sure.”

The newest Freedom of the City recipient has some advice for others who want to get involved in the community. And true to form – suggestions for improvement.

“I say, get involved. Because it really adds a vibrancy and a livability to the community. And certainly, something I want to see is a new performing arts centre,” adds Black.