Kamloops News

BC Wildlife Park has full slate of presentations, animal encounters planned for Family Day

Wildlife park for Family Day

Photo: KTW file

FILE - A sign welcoming visitors to the BC Wildlife Park.

The BC Wildlife Park is inviting Kamloops-area families to spend Family Day learning about animals.

The park will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the holiday on Monday, Feb. 16.

“Visit the Family Farm, attend scheduled wildlife feed talks and enjoy a full day of learning about British Columbia’s native species,” the park said in a post on social media.

The Family Farm will be open from 10:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., and wildlife feed talks are scheduled throughout the day.

For more information about Family Day at the BC Wildlife Park, click here.

The park is also gearing up to host day camps over spring break. To learn more about that, click here.

Photo: BC Wildlife Park

Kamloops Blazers will add Devan Dubnyk to its Legends Banner at March 7 home game

Dubnyk to be honoured

Photo: KTW file photo

Kamloops Blazer alumni Devan Dubnyk will be honoured ahead of the March 7 home game.

The Kamloops Blazers will honour one of the top goalies in the franchise history next month ahead of a game against the Vancouver Giants.

This special evening will celebrate the legacy of former Blazer great Devan Dubnyk, who will be officially added to the Blazers’ prestigious Legends Banner in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the team.

The six-foot-six inch tall netminder — lovingly nicknamed “The Giraffe” during his Blazers days — played four seasons in Kamloops from 2002–2006, appearing in 192 career games, and posting a 2.69 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and a record 15 shutouts.


Dubnyk, who’s from Calgary, Alta., went on to be drafted 14th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2004 NHL Draft and enjoyed a 16-year pro career which included 542 NHL games with Edmonton, Nashville, Minnesota, San Jose and Colorado.

Legends Night, presented by Metro Reload, takes place at the Sandman Centre at 6:00 p.m. ahead of the March 7 home game.

The night’s festivities will include a special pregame Legends Night presentation before puck drop, and limited-edition Devan Dubnyk warmup jerseys, worn by the Blazers to be auctioned off after the game to fundraiser for KidSport Kamloops.

There will also be a commemorative Devan Dubnyk photo giveaway for the first 1,500 fans in the building, autograph signing with Dubnyk during the first intermission, at the east end of the concourse beside the newly created Legends Wall and special giveaways throughout the game.

Dubnyk will become the 14th player and 3rd goaltender in franchise history to be added to the Legends Banner.


During his junior hockey career, Dubnyk was selected for the 2004 CHL Top Prospects game and named the 2004 WHL and CHL Scholastic Player of the Year.


His NHL accolades include the 2015 Bill Masterton Trophy, which is awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

He was named a second team NHL All-Star in the 2015 season and appeared in three NHL All-Star games in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

In 2014-15 Dubnyk was a runner-up for the NHL’s Vezina Trophy, which is awarded to the goalie judged to be the best at the psotiioon that season. He finished third in voting, behind Pekka Rinne and winner Carey rice the year.


Dubnyk also represented Canada internationally winning a gold medal at the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championships.

He was a member of Canada's roster for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 World Hockey Championships. He also won a gold medal with Canada at the 2012 Spengler Cup. 


Tickets for Legends Night are available now at www.blazerhockey.com or through the Sandman Centre Box Office.

Mayor, councillors take on the visually impaired to raise awareness following White Cane Week

Bowling for awareness

Photo: Michael Potestio

These shades may make the mayor look like a cool cat, but they're actually used to show the sighted how the visually impaired cope with their handicap on a day-to-day basis.

Click here to view gallery

Photo: Michael Potestio Photo: Michael Potestio Photo: Michael Potestio

A trio of city council members joined up with Kamloops’ White Cane Club to raise awareness while doing battle in the bowling alley on Friday.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, Coun. Nancy Bepple and deputy mayor Coun. Margot Middleton took part in a friendly bowling competition at Falcon Lanes in Valleyview, capping off this year’s White Cane Week — an annual awareness campaign for the visually impaired celebrated across Canada.

One awareness tool the club utilizes is a set of various sunglasses customized to show the sighted what it's like to live with various types of blindness.

For example, the glasses showing macular degeneration have the centre of the frames blotted out while the ones demonstrating glaucoma have all but two small holes to see out of.

Mayor Hamer-Jackson tried on the pair simulating glaucoma while bowling a frame, which, he said, surprisingly helped him focus on the target.

“It was my best shot of the day, so far,” Hamer-Jackson said with a laugh.

The mayor said it felt outstanding to be invited by the club to take part in the event again this year, and lauded the work vice president Vern Short and the Kamloops White Cane Club does raising awareness on eye health.

He said their awareness campaign spurred him to action last year.

“I didn’t think about it [but] I heard years ago that we have glaucoma in our family, so, a lot to do with Vern and the whole organization, I went and got my eyes checked last year,” Hamer-Jackson said.

Short told Castanet Kamloops the bowling event isn’t just to raise awareness of blindness and vision loss in Kamloops, but it's also a fun activity for their members.

“It shows the sighted residents and city council that we can participate in society, we just have to do things a little differently,” Short said.

Short said if he can just educate just one sighted person to look at the individual first before the disability and convince them to get their eyes examined at least once a year, he’s done his job.

City of Kamloops testing AI tools that would scour documents, provide information

City hall testing out AI tools

Photo: City of Kamloops

A screenshot of an AI-powered chatbot being prototyped by the City of Kamloops.

The City of Kamloops is trialling AI chatbots intended to help staff and members of the public more easily source information from municipal documents.

It’s one of a few AI applications being prototyped by the City of Kamloops Information Technology department, according to IT manager Kuldeep Bath.

“These are not in production, you’re getting a bit of a preview of some of the things that are underway,” Bath told council’s committee of the whole on Tuesday.

City staff are exploring the use of AI to summarize council agendas and send alerts to staff about items of interest, to provide answers when people have questions about things like zoning, permitting or bylaws, and to assist residents with identifying and sorting items for waste or recycling.

Marco Lussetti, the city’s senior software developer, said a public-facing chatbot would help answer questions about city processes and bylaws — for example, which permits and fees might be needed to construct a swimming pool at a residence.

The external chatbot tool would interpret plain language questions and match them to the correct property or bylaw context and return guidance from municipal documents.

“The idea here would be to focus on getting these sort of tools to cite the bylaws, provide the specific section, so the user can refer to them and click on them and see the actual details, rather than just rely on what the bot is telling you,” Lussetti said.

An internal chatbot would similarly offer city employees with AI access to resources including policies, council procedures and privacy rules.

Bath said it’s being designed to allow a staff member to ask a plain language question and quickly receive answers pulled from official documentation.

“This is a very common tool in many organizations like ours. We have lots of documents and data, whether that's policies, procedures, forums, et cetera, that we all need to be aware of,” he said.

Bath said the IT team is also testing out a council agenda AI summary, which will help summarize the official agendas once they are posted. He noted this shouldn’t replace reading the actual reports in full.

“It's more of an indication to look into the more detailed report. But we think it would be useful for users to be able to get a more detailed summary than what’s in the agenda,” Bath said.

In addition, staff are also working on setting up council meeting alerts. Users would sign up to be notified about specific keywords and then would receive alerts when these words or similar topics appear on a council report or agenda.

Lussetti said another AI-based feature being prototyped includes a way to help people classify waste and recycling with their phone cameras. Photos taken by the user would be classified by AI.

"Then it's going to cross reference to all the various city facilities and third parties through Recycle BC, to find where can you take them,” he said.

Coun. Bill Sarai asked how confident staff are that the information provided by the chatbot will be accurate.

“Are we confident that the information they get from there, and they run with it, is going to be in line when they go to the desk at DES [Development Engineering Services] and say, ‘Hey, that's what AI told us to do,’” Sarai said.

Bath said a lot of work will be involved to train and test an AI chatbot, but there are also alternative methods where answers can be guided.

“We would likely take a very conservative approach, if it gets to a point and it's not certain, it would follow the existing process — which might be to contact us, fill out a form, read a bylaw, et cetera,” he said.

City of Kamloops manager says snowfall may be unpredictable, but snow clearing budget can't be

Snow clearing under budget

Photo: Josh Dawson

Vehicles drive through snowy weather in downtown Kamloops on Dec. 1, 2025.

A mere centimetre of snowfall was recorded in Kamloops in the first month of 2026, but a stretch of mild winter weather does not necessarily equal savings in the city's $1.9-million snow-clearing budget.

Jeff Putnam, streets and parks manager for the City of Kamloops, said the municipality budgets $1.9 million for snow clearing each year. In 2025, the city came in at about $85,000 under budget.

This falls in line with the city’s average snow clearing costs tracked over the last few years, which shows the actual snow clearing spend is about $1.7 million — a few hundred thousand dollars under budget.

But the variability of snowfall events and the need to budget for year-round equipment operators mean the annual snow-clearing budget isn't likely to see a change anytime soon.

“We have seen a trend of less frequent snowfall events, but that doesn't necessarily always equate to savings,” Putnam said, adding that while snow events seem to be less frequent, the storms themselves aren’t getting any less intense.

“You still need all that equipment and you need the staff."

Feast or famine

Ken Dosanjh, meteorologist with Environment Canada, said December 2025 saw 31.7 centimetres of snowfall. Much of this snow fell within a handful of days at the beginning of the month and around Christmas.

By comparison, 33.2 centimetres of snow fell over a four-month stretch between November 2024 and February 2025.

Meanwhile, Dosanjh said January recorded only 1 centimetre of snow — 0.3 centimetres on Jan. 3 and 0.7 centimetres on Jan. 7. It was the sixth driest January on record.

Putnam said this variability makes it difficult to forecast snow-clearing needs in advance, which is why the city considers its cost averages over the past three years.

He noted the fiscal year runs from January to December, but the winter season runs from October to March — so the annual budget must cover two winter season stretches.

While Kamloops has seen almost no snowfall in January, there’s still plenty of winter left this year, including the months in late 2026.

If there are budget savings in a fiscal year, it’s often because there are fewer overtime shifts needed to clear snow on weekends and overnight.

Any savings are put into the general reserves.

Plow drivers stay busy

Putnam said there’s plenty of non-snow-related duties that staff perform year-round, including potholing, hauling material, removing debris and cleaning up the aftermath of car crashes.

"There's a lot of stuff that we're constantly doing, so we don't have any difficulty finding other duties for the staff,” he said.

When temperatures at night are above zero, crews get started with street sweeping to get ahead of spring clean-up, a task that is already underway with the absence of snow in January.

Putnam said crews are focusing on sweeping up bike lanes along arterial roads, particularly those that have heavier deposits of winter sand accumulations.

While the Kamloops region has seen a mild and dry start to the year, snowfall has reappeared in the forecast for next week.

Environment Canada is predicting a dip in temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a chance of flurries overnight.

“It looks like there's a cold front through the last two weeks in February. And there could be snow accumulation in the valley,” Putnam said.

“We're prepared and ready to go for it.”

Dozens of dogs living in their own filth surrendered from Merritt home

Dozens of dogs surrendered

Photo: Angel's Animal Rescue

Dozens of dogs were surrendered by a Merritt resident last month.

Dozens of dogs found living in their own feces have been surrendered by a Merritt resident who got “in over his head."

The BC SPCA and Merritt's Angel's Animal Rescue were among the agencies that took part in a Jan. 12 rescue that saw 47 dogs seized from a single home.

Judanna Dawn, the owner of Angel's Animal Rescue, said the owner was “quite willing” to surrender the dogs, which were living in “deplorable” conditions.

“They lived in sheds, they lived in old fifth-wheel trailers that were no longer in use, they lived in an abandoned house that was flooded in 2021,” she said.

“It took me days to get the smell out of my nose, those dogs were living, sleeping, eating and drinking in their own feces for who knows how many years.”

Dawn said her rescue agency took in 20 of the dogs.

Matt Affleck, BC SPCA regional manager of animal protection, told Castanet the agency itself took in another 27 dogs over the course of three visits to the property.

“It's just somebody that got very overwhelmed and didn't know the right people to call at the time,” he said.

“We’ve had this problem since COVID with breeders, it was a really good time during COVID to buy and sell puppies and then once COVID was over that whole world just stopped, so people get stuck with these dogs and they can’t sell them or they can’t give them away.”

Affleck said the owner was “very cooperative” and was happy to surrender the dogs.

He said most of the dogs SPCA took in are now up for adoption and the file is still open to “tie up loose ends.”

Reminder to reach out

Dawn said several neighbours called city bylaw services with concerns with the dogs at the residence, but she said that didn’t lead to any action. Dawn believes the dogs could have been rescued earlier and that bylaw should have been enforcing the city’s two-dog limit.

“When the bylaw knows that this is happening right under their noses, and it was 27 plus dogs — how did that happen?” she said.

In a brief statement provided to Castanet on behalf of the City of Merritt and Mayor Mike Goetz, it said the city enforces its animal control bylaws and works in collaboration with SPCA, RCMP and other agencies when animal welfare concerns arise.

"The BC SPCA has primary responsibility for investigating animal cruelty under provincial legislation," the statement reads.

Affleck said SPCA tries to respond to calls as quickly as it can and prioritizes files based on urgency. He said the agency responded to the Merritt home the day after it received a call from a concerned citizen.

He said BC SPCA won’t be pursuing charges against the owner.

“Where somebody hasn't intentionally harmed animals, we really want to get compliance and get that education and let people know the resources, that the SPCA is here,” Affleck said.

“If people are in these situations to reach out, our officers are very kind, non-judgmental, and we'll work with people to help them with whatever they need.”

Dawn stressed the importance of citizens reporting instances of animal abuse and neglect.

“Don't let go of it, make sure that if you know something is wrong that it's getting handled,” she said.

City of Kamloops plans full day of Family Day activities, including TCC festival, $2 skating and swimming

Family Day Festival at TCC

Photo: KTW file

FILE - Kids play beneath a parachute in the Tournament Capital Centre fieldhouse during a previous City of Kamloops Family Day Festival.

The City of Kamloops is throwing a party to celebrate Family Day.

On Monday, Feb. 16, the Tournament Capital Centre will be transformed into the 12th annual Family Day Festival, complete with vendor booths, food trucks and family friendly performances throughout the day.

The free event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, click here.

Also skating, swimming

City facilities will also be hosting $2 skating and swimming for Family Day on Feb. 16.

Public skating is slated to run at Valleyview Arena from noon to 2:15 p.m., and public swimming will take place between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre.

TRU students competing in collegiate ice fishing competition sitting in third place

TRU anglers in third place

Photo: Angler's Atlas

Team co-captains Elias Newport (left) and Torrie Nicholas (right) are among a dozen TRU students competing in the Western Division of Hardwater Havoc.

Give a Thompson Rivers University student a fish and they’ll eat for a day, but teach a TRU student to fish and they might walk away with $1,000.

That’s what is on the line for a dozen TRU students competing for in the Western Division of Hardwater Havoc, a six-week collegiate ice fishing competition between Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges.

Anglers first cast off on Jan. 9 and the TRU contingent is currently in third place with 161 catches so far. They’re being led by co-captains Torrie Nicholas and Elias Newport.

Students compete by logging ice-fishing trips, documenting catches, participating in weekly challenges and contributing angler-generated data to fisheries science and conservation.

Points are earned through participation, species diversity and total catches.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the TRU anglers are sitting behind first-place Brigham Young University-Idaho and second-place Oregon Institute of Technology.

TRU’s Noah Ratushny has logged the longest brook trout caught during the event so far at 19 inches, Nicholas is holding the record for the longest rainbow trout at 22 inches, and Jack Ekholm has is third for most fish reeled in — his 86 catches buoying the team's numbers.

“The team has enjoyed numerous planned group outings and shared time on the ice, building a strong, collaborative dynamic that reflects a true team-first effort,” organizer Angler’s Atlas said of the TRU students in a news release.

Online leaderboards are updated throughout the competition, which concludes on Feb. 19.

Angler’s Atlas said a partnership with the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society means students can earn a micro-credential in Applied Citizen Science for Fisheries Management by completing weekly assignments over the course of the competition.

Students are required to “work directly with past angler-generated citizen science data to calculate fisheries metrics such as catch-per-unit-effort and length-frequency distributions, examine sources of bias, and interpret results within real management contexts” in order to earn the credential.

City of Kamloops says need for recovery-oriented housing, day spaces subject of meeting with minister

City wants to see recovery

Photo: KTW file

FILE - Flags fly outside Kamloops city hall.

Kamloops council pressed B.C.’s housing minister last month to support recovery-oriented housing and year-round day spaces for the city’s growing homeless population.

Coun. Nancy Bepple said the meeting, which included council and city staff, took place on Jan. 27. Christine Boyle, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, attended virtually.

Bepple said council wanted to convey its support for more housing in Kamloops with a focus on recovery.

"We wanted to make sure that the ministry knew that that was something that our council supported, and that we're hoping the ministry can support that going forward as well," Bepple said.

She said the tone of the meeting was "very positive."

"Council appreciated that the minister took time to meet with us, and I can't speak for the minister, but I think that the ministry appreciates what the city and all of the agencies that we work with have been able to deliver for people in Kamloops in a broad spectrum of types of housing."

In a news release, the City of Kamloops said the meeting agenda touched on housing, community supports and municipal governance.

The statement said the city and the ministry “reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining a constructive and solutions-focused partnership.”

“During the meeting, the city and province discussed a range of housing and support opportunities including how the province can help deliver recovery-oriented supportive housing, day spaces for unhoused individuals and shelter capacity,” the statement reads.

“They further highlighted the importance of coordinated solutions that support unhoused individuals while also addressing the impacts on nearby residents and businesses.”

The City of Kamloops said Boyle committed to having her office work with city staff to review data and look into opportunities for “improved coordination.”

The parties also exchanged updates on governance and legislative work underway, the statement said.

In November, Kamloops council requested a meeting with Boyle over its concern with provincial housing targets, citing a failure to recognize the role of market conditions in determining how many units are built.

The City of Kamloops fell short of its provincially mandated housing targets for the second year in a row, despite council approving hundreds of units.

Council also requested a meeting with provincial housing and health ministers in mid-December, dismayed at BC Housing’s decision to rescind a recovery-focused supportive housing proposal for a controversial site at Fortune Drive and Leigh Road.

Kamloops council also pressed the ministry that month to fund a year-round day space, citing a growing homelessness crisis and a lack of daytime services for the unhoused.

Kamloops Sports Council to take over Ribfest, aims to keep proceeds in local sport

Ribs to fuel Kamloops sports

Photo: KTW file photo

A ribber lays some sauce down on a rack of ribs at a previous iteration of the Kamloops Ribfest.

The Kamloops Sports Council is taking over Ribfest starting this year, shifting control of the saucy summertime staple to an organization focused squarely on supporting local sport.

The council, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting, developing, and advocating for sport and events in Kamloops, announced this week that it will take the festival over from the Kamloops Daybreak Rotary Club, which has staged Ribfest for its entire 13-year run.

All proceeds will remain local and go toward sport, according to Duncan Olthuis, KSC executive director.

He said he hopes Ribfest will serve the KSC's mandate by helping serve the community and supporting local sport organizations with fundraising.

“We just want to make sure that this event, the torch is carried correctly, and that the great work that Daybreak Rotary did for this event and the city of Kamloops continues,” Olthuis told Castanet.

Money raised at Ribfest will be used to support local sports organizations and programs, including the KidSport Kamloops charity and other community-based groups across the city.

Teamwork required

In order to host the event, the sports council intends to partner with local sport organizations and clubs, which will contribute in a variety of ways to Ribfest — including planning, setup, logistics and event operations.

Olthuis told Castanet he cannot yet divulge which clubs will be assisting with this summer’s event, but he said there are local organizations already lined up to take it on.

In exchange for their help, the groups will receive a portion of the proceeds from each area they help staff.

Olthuis said the arrangement will provide a large volunteer base while offering individual groups a fundraising opportunity.

“That's a huge help for us,” he said.

Ribfest has raised more than $850,000 in support of local community initiatives in its 13 years.

Olthuis said that number will keep ticking up in future years — which will be good news for the community.

“We don't know this at this point, because we're still working through the first things, but we expect a fairly good economic boost to the city of Kamloops and to our local sport organizations,” he said.

The more things change

Olthuis said a KSC-run Ribfest will closely resemble previous editions of the event, featuring a large beverage garden, five ribbers competing to cook the best barbecue, live entertainment all weekend and a free family fun zone.

He said one of the five ribbers will be new this year, and the weekend of the 2026 event will remain the same from last year — Aug. 7 to Aug. 9.

He’s open to new ideas and initiatives, but Olthuis said no major changes are so far planned.

“Right now, we don't have any massive changes in the works,” he said.

Rotarian and previous event chair Danica Wilkinson said in a news release the transition of Ribfest from Rotary to the KSC is good news for Kamloops.

“As Rotarians, we are proud of the event we built in Kamloops, and are pleased to see it is still here to raise funds for the community and be a important summer economic driver,” she said.