KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
LOCAL NEWS
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MARCH 14, 2017 | Volume 30 No. 31
WEATHER Showers High 14 C Low 7 C
SUN PEAKS SNOW REPORT Mid-mountain: 193 cm Alpine: 227 cm Snow phone: 250-578-7232
TITANIC STRUGGLE AT PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP
TIME TO BOOGIE! Training begins for 20th anniversary of Boogie The Bridge
South Kam Titans lose heartbreaker in AAA B.C. boys’ hoops title game
A17
A12
TIB: city on own in Ajax decision
RUDE AWAKENING
It was a rough start to the week for one motorist on 14th Street in Brocklehurst yesterday morning. First responders on the scene said while the home sustained some damage, no one was injured in the incident. The investigation into how it happened continues. ANDREA KLASSEN/KTW
ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
Tk’emlups Indian Band Chief Fred Seymour said there is “no pressure” on Kamloops council from him when it comes time to make a decision on the proposed Ajax mine. “Your guys’ decision is coming in two or three months,” Seymour told city councillors yesterday. “No pressure, you guys, support it or not.” Speaking during a community-tocommunity forum between the band and city councils, Seymour outlined the process taken by the Tk’emlups and Skeetchestn bands (who work collectively as the Stk’emlupsemc te Secwepemc Nation), which have opposed the copper and gold mine proposed for south of Aberdeen. See CALLS, A3
REMEMBERING RICHARD WAGAMESE DALE BASS STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
Kamloopsians are reacting with sadness and sharing fond memories after learning of the death of Richard Wagamese. The award-winning author and journalist was 61. Family members in northwestern Ontario confirmed the writer died Friday afternoon in his home in downtown Kamloops. His death comes a week after he was nominated for a B.C. Book Booksellers’ Choice Award for Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations. No information has been released on how Wagamese died. Wagamese was born in northwestern Ontario and was a member of the Wabaseemoong First Nation.
He often described himself as a second-generation survivor of the residential school system; his parents and other family members were students in the system that later became a national scandal. He grew up in foster homes. In his essay Speaking My Truth: Reflections on Reconciliation and Residential Schools, Wagamese credited entering a Catholic church as a young man and finding himself the only person sitting in a pew who was not white as a turning point in his life, after hearing about a Creator and being able to put aside his anger. “He leaves much to us and to future generations in his writing,” said Helen McFadyen, minister at the Unitarian Universalist fellowship of Kamloops. “Wishing his family and the community love and peace as Richard journeys to spirit world. He was
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a favourite speaker of our congregation.” Dawn Koch, who runs the student-mentoring AIM Foundation of Canada, said Wagamese, a frequent participant in its events, “was a skilled writer and talented storyteller. He shared so freely of himself that at times he must have been completely emptied. “Many refer to your talent, Richard, but for those of us who knew you as a friend, we loved you to the moon and back. Be at peace our friend.” Kamloops Coun. Tina Lange said she was always proud to tell people “that the great author and storyteller Richard Wagamese lived close to Kamloops [when he lived in Pinantan Lake before moving to the city about five years ago]. He truly was a local treasure.” See WAGAMESE, A6
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