Kamloops Chamber of Commerce clarifies Cascades Casino’s award

Oct 30, 2018 | 5:26 PM

KAMLOOPS — Last Saturday, the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce held their annual Business Excellence Awards which recognizes the best from the business community in our city.

The night’s big winner stirred up some questions on social media after Cascades Casino took home the Business of the Year Award. On Monday, Oct. 29, the Chamber of Commerce responded to those questions. First Vice President Vivek Sharma says the award was for work done in 2017 and recognizes the impact the Casino and its staff had in Kamloops over the course of the year.

“So, to win the business of the year, you need to be a winner in one of the other categories,” Sharma explained over the phone from Nelson, BC. “Cascades Casino won the Community Service Award. In 2017, they helped us feed over 100,000 evacuees during the fire season… apart from that, they’re consistently involved with the United Way Drive-Thru Breakfast, the Starfish Backpack Program and they work with a couple of other not-for-profits, like the Kamloops Food Bank and the Autism Society.”

CFJC Today spoke with union members on the picket line outside of Cascades Casino, but they declined to comment on camera. We also reached out to the BCGEU for their reaction, but the union was unable to provide any comment by our deadline today.