Officials at the city of the Kamloops and Tk’emlups te Secwepemc have a message to residents on both sides of the Thompson River – stay home and social distance from one another.
In a YouTube video, Ken Christian and Roseanne Casimir say they want businesses and residents to abide by the guidelines set out by health officials.
Like Kamloops, Casimir says T’kemlups has also declared a state of local emergency.
“Leadership throughout Secwepemculew have been teleconferencing with one another to look at ways where the communities can come together to undertake and discuss proactive measures that we could ensure that we are facing the pandemic together,” she said.
Mayor Ken Christian says the two communities will continue to work together on a number of shared services during this pandemic.
“The RCMP are helping the Kamloops Rural Detachment, that impacts Tk’emlups, the Skeetchestn Indian Band, and the Whispering Pines/Clinton Indian Band,” said Christian.
“Of course we have agreements for other services. Our fire service, our sanitary sewer service, our transit service is still running. And we jointly want to tell businesses that are operating on both sides of the river that the rules apply wherever you are.”
Casimir is urging people to be serious about things like social distancing and staying home.
“During these difficult times we encourage all the public to stay calm, to be careful,” she said. “We also want to reiterate the importance that our youth are following that same recommendations as well. So it’s really important that they have that clear understanding that this could potentially harm themselves or those that they love.”
The video message was posted a couple of hours after the city of Kamloops closed Hillside Stadium because people aren’t following social distancing guidelines.
Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc joins Mayor Ken Christian to discuss how our communities are working together in the face of COVID-19. @Tkemlupshttps://t.co/xVlBqAM50d
— City of Kamloops (@cityofkamloops) March 24, 2020
