KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
LOCAL NEWS
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JULY 18, 2017 | Volume 30 No. 85
TODAY’S WEATHER
Hot and smoky High 32 C Low 14 C
A HALL OF AN ACCOMPLISHMENT • PAGE A23
MINE WORTH $3.8 MILLION A YEAR TO CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO OPPOSE AJAX, BUT WILL GET MILLIONS IF PROJECT IS APPROVED ANDREA KLASSEN STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
TIM PETRUK/KTW Betty-Lou Johnson had a big smile on her face at Sandman Centre on Sunday morning despite having driven through the night to Kamloops after being evacuated from Williams Lake as wildfire threatened the Cariboo town. For more on the wildfire and evacuation situation in B.C. and Kamloops, turn to pages A3, A4, A5, A14, A15 and A16 and go online to kamloopsthisweek.com.
City welcomes Williams Lake evacuees TIM PETRUK
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
Children playing, old men crying and hundreds of displaced Cariboo residents lumped up under sheets on emergency cots, trying to rest after a long night of travel. That was the scene inside Sandman Centre on Sunday morning, where thousands of Williams Lake evacuees gathered for registration and temporary lodging. The city of 10,700 people was placed under evacuation order early Saturday evening as the White Lake fire — one of three
burning near the community, jumped the Fraser River. “It was about quarter after six for me,” said Donna Pryor, who was lined up outside Sandman Centre on Sunday morning. “I got a phone call from a friend.” Williams Lake had been under an evacuation alert for days before the evacuation order was implemented. Pryor said she had been packed up for days, but did not want to leave until it was necessary. Reports have indicated about half of Williams Lake’s residents left town before the order was issued. “The people who left, they were told
there was no way back in,” Pryor said. “We didn’t want to leave if we didn’t have to.” Fellow evacuee Jackie Lahaise echoed that sentiment. “I knew if we were in danger we would be told to leave,” she said. “We were confident in the system.” Lahaise said conditions in Williams Lake worsened in a hurry on Saturday afternoon prior to the evacuation order being made. “It was a regular day,” she said. “Blue sky. We were at the park. Then the wind started to pick up and you look around town and it’s just smoke.” See ‘YOU CAN’T’, A4
The City of Kamloops will receive an estimated $87 million over 23 years, or $3.8 million per year, from KGHM Ajax if the company’s proposed copper and gold mine south of Aberdeen is approved this fall by the provincial and federal governments. But in a special meeting on Monday, councillors urged both governments to reject the mine by a vote of 4-2. While five of the city’s remaining council members oppose the mine — only Coun. Pat Wallace spoke in support of the project, calling it an economic boon for the city — Coun. Dieter Dudy voted against the rejection motion, which he said did not do enough to protect residents if the mine is approved over the city’s objection. Debate focused less around the mine itself and more on how best to issue a rejection of the project to higher levels of government. Councillors Denis Walsh, Tina Lange and Donovan Cavers argued the city should take a “hard no” stance on Ajax, forgoing a list of conditions the city would require if the mine is approved. Those conditions, drafted by consultant SLR as part its $500,000 review of the mining application, included increased monitoring of the project’s effects on groundwater, the construction of emergency pumping and piping in case of tailings pond failure and other requirements. See NO CONDITIONS, A6
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