A group of Kamloopsians gathered outside City Hall over the noon hour Thursday say “enough is enough” as they try to push governments to do more to deal with social disorder and public safety.
One of those people was Tom Rankin who told NL News he was “unhappy” with how proactive all levels of governments are in addressing the issue.
“I’ve worked for social non profits, I work in the private sector, and I know its not easy, but just think there is more that we can do than what’s being done, and I want to see it done quicker,” he said.
This woman, who owns a business in downtown Kamloops, had this to say to the crowd.
“I just happened to walk along here today. I think we need a starting point. Like what is the starting point? Do we just all storm City Hall meetings?” she wondered. “I think everybody wants to do something because we have had enough and we can’t let this happen to our beautiful city. It’s just like…it’s unbelievable.”
Added local organizer, Glenn Hilke – who runs The Loop on Tranquille Road – during part of his speech to rally the troops, “we are here for one reason and one reason only. To stand together, to say that everyone in our community needs help. Absolutely everyone.”
Hilke also told the people gathered to ensure that their frustration is pointed in the right direction – towards City Hall and at the offices of the City’s MLAs and MP – none of whom were at the rally.
“The more we point fingers at one another, the more they like it and the more it separates us and it pits us against one another,” Hilke said, noting it was “very important” that the group’s collective voices be heard “clearly and moderately.”
Similar rallies were also taking place over the noon hour in Victoria, Nanaimo, Penticton, Prince George today with Surrey and Dawson Creek to follow this evening.
While things in Kamloops began smoothly, Rebecca Price Baechle, who owns a business along Tranquille Road, had to mediate after some of the crowd began to turn against Hilke.
“I could just see that going down a very bad path, and I saw it as detracting from what we are trying to accomplish,” she told NL News. “I do think it was pretty disingenuous of Glenn to sort of take control of the rally without telling people who he was up front and who he worked for and how he was involved in the City.
“And I think that is where people started to get a little upset. Today was really about public safety and not about what is going on in addiction and mental health population, though those two are obviously connected.”
For his part, Hilke says he was not surprised that people turned on him, though he thinks the group was able to get their point across.
“We all got through it okay. For everyone that tried to high jack the goal of this to talk about public safety and the other related issues, the next person who took the megaphone brought it back to the centre and brought it back to balance,” he said.
“I was happy with the way things happened.”
– With files from Abby Zieverink
#Kamloops pic.twitter.com/7R9V9NnDOJ
— Abby Zieverink (@ZieverinkAbby) April 27, 2023
