Two months after it was designated a nuisance property, the operator of The Loop says he’s been told his business licence has been suspended by the City of Kamloops.

“This is an orchestrated, political crusade to close us down,” operator Glenn Hilke told NL News, adding he is waiting for documentation that gives him the official reason for that decision.

“It has been in the works for quite a while. It takes into account a cohort of people that represent real estate development, business associations, the mayor, city councillors, vitriol social media groups – all of whom have chosen a political response as opposed to a community based and compassionate response to the challenges that we have in our city.”

The Loop opened its doors in the spring of 2020 at the intersection of Tranquille Road and Mackenzie Avenue.

Hilke says the Loop is the only program and service provider of its kind on the North Shore that has consistently offered daily social, food security, as well as rapid access and intervention services to some of the the most vulnerable people in Kamloops.

“Our centre was instrumental identifying the complex gaps in services existing on the North Shore especially for those with severe mental and physical health issues as well as chronic substance use habits,” he added.

“The Loop is a very small small organization punching bag that is being used to divert attention from the systemic problems that we have which occur by the way with every social service organization in town. There are people that are using substances because there aren’t places for them to use them indoors.”

Hilke also says the Loop has also been told they will not be getting $38,000 from the Reaching Home federal funds which is administered by the City of Kamloops. They had initially applied for $188,000 with the money going towards operations – including three meals per day at the drop-in centre.

“We are disappointed and question the withdrawal of our recommended funding,” Hilke added. “We fail to see how taking away 100 per cent of our funding for the Loop – a viable, vibrant and hardworking not for profit agency – is going to be anything but a detriment to both the people we serve as well as to the community as a whole.”

“Until the systemic issues are addressed, we’re going to continue to have these problems.”

Issues Found with Loop’s Operations, City says

Carmin Mazzotta, the Social, Housing, and Community Development Manager with the City of Kamloops, says when staff were conducting a due diligence review of the Loop’s operations, there were a lot of concerns raised.

Those concerns, he says, are why the City has pulled federal funding that was earmarked for the Loop.

“To us this is not at all a political piece and we are not alone in that,” Mazzotta told NL News. “As we all know, there are many folks in the community who have had concerns, who have expressed them whether in media or social media. There’s concerns from the non-profit sector itself.”

“We need to have some community conversations and we need to get out and look at these issues and work together as a community with residents, with businesses, with the social service sector to address the concerns around the social issues in our community”

Mazzotta says the Loop’s funding has been redirected to Envision – a new day use space on the North Shore at 346 Campbell Avenue. It will be operated by the City and its partner agencies – Canadian Mental Health Association Kamloops, the ASK Wellness Society, the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society, and Interior Community Services.

“These are not issues that are specific to one particular program,” he added.

“One of the pieces that we are looking at is getting back out into community and having these conversations and coming up with community based solutions and doing it strategically where we look at the data, we look at the best practices, and it will be an open and transparent process.”

The City says that location will provide privacy for clients while not directly impacting the street frontage on the Tranquille Corridor.

“It will be open 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily for the next four months, with two outreach workers and a program coordinator on site to provide access to supports and a shuttle service offering transportation to shelters when the site closes each evening,” a City statement said.

Similarly, on the South Shore, the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society and The Mustard Seed will operate The Gathering Place at 48 Victoria Street West for four months.

“It fills an identified need for a day space on the South Shore in a location that will be monitored and managed by trained staff and that has additional supports within walking distance,” the City said. “Outreach workers from the two social agencies will provide a culturally safe space and access to information and supports. The space will be open 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m., seven days a week.”

Both locations will be cleaned on a nightly basis, the City says.

Thursday Morning Fight Outside the Loop

Thursday’s announcement of the suspension of the Loop’s business licence comes hours after a physical confrontation outside the social agency’s doors that was captured on video, seen below. Video also shows a City of Kamloops Community Services Officer trying to break up the fight.

RCMP spokesperson Const. Crystal Evelyn says police were called around 7:40 a.m. today to a report of a fight on the 400-block of Tranquille Road.

“Frontline officers attended and numerous people scattered,” she said, adding no weapons were reported either. “An investigation revealed the fight to be consensual with no injuries or property damage reported.”

Evelyn said a consensual fight can be defined as a fight where both parties choose to get involved.

Hilke meanwhile says he will fight the cut in funding and the suspension of his business licence, noting he will remain open on the North Shore to serve his clients.

“Why are there more challenges in our city as a whole? I think these are questions that we need to ask our elected officials who have just been indifferent,” he said.

“They have been delaying, have not really taken the issues facing our city seriously. They divert their responsibility off to the province, Interior Health, to the Federal Government, but there’s certainly a lot more that they can do.”

– With files from Brett Mineer