Kelowna truckers rally convoy for solidarity with Tk'emlups te Secwépemc

Photo: Contributed

A West Kelowna trucker has a message for the province and the federal government: "Please help."

Owner of West Kelowna trucking company Otto Enterprises, Mike Otto, says he is helping to organize a trucking convoy on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. to show solidarity and support for the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in Kamloops after the remains of 215 children were found buried on the site of a former residential school.

"We're neighbours. We want to show our support. We want them to know they're not alone, honestly," Otto said

He came up with the idea on Monday, and by Wednesday, it had grown to three different locations — Kelowna, Merritt and Williams Lake, "there could be more by Saturday."

"I'm putting together a convoy to go to Kamloops in support of the tragedy there. Please help me put this together and spread the word. This will happen this coming Saturday. Meeting up in Kelowna at the Chevron card lock at 8 a.m.," said Otto in an online post.

The convoy from Williams Lake will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the 150 Mile Gas Station and the Merritt convoy leaves at 9:30 a.m. from the Esso/Denny's.

Otto says he will be travelling with Cori Derickson, whose grandparents were survivors of the residential school in Kamloops.

"We'll be travelling from Kelowna north to Vernon then through Falkland and Westwold and we have people meeting and joining us along the way," Otto says.

"The whole idea is to make sure the government does not forget. We want to show our support with a lot of truckers."