It looks like the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Healing Centre and elders lodge – as well as housing – could be built on a riverfront property at Miner Creek Road and Shuswap Road, east of Kamloops.

The proposal going before Thursday’s Thompson-Nicola Regional District meeting is asking the Board of Directors to support a Non-Farm Use application for the 10.5 ha property that is being made to the Agricultural Land Commission. The property is just east of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Reserve No. 1, on the north side of the South Thompson River.

“Future uses also include regenerative agriculture, traditional, and cultural land use practices to help nurture First Nations history and talent,” the report said. “The development will serve a dual purpose to a) provide a facility for those healing from the Kamloops Residential School system and b) provide Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Elders with housing needs.”

In March, the Federal Government announced $12.5 million towards the construction of the healing centre, but no location was made public then.

“It is going to be in a safe place, that has been identified that its going to be away from the residential school,” Tk’emlúps Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir said at the time.

“It is going to be in a place that is going to be welcoming. It is going to be safe. It is going to be nurturing. It’s going to be respectful, and its going to be honouring our true culture and our history. And it will be non-colonialistic.”

Last October, Casimir told NL News the healing centre had been identified as the top priority for Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc, following a promise of “concrete actions” on reconciliation made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a trip to Kamloops in October 2021.

The Band says the “House of Healing” will meet the needs of people who have been impacted by the Indian Residential School system in Canada.

“Anyone who attended Kamloops Indian Residential School or any other Residential school as a student, day scholar, or is an intergenerational survivor, will be able to have access to healing programs that will be offered,” Casimir said, in a statement last month.

“The ‘House of Healing’ will be a safe space that incorporates trauma informed programs to support individuals and their families in their spiritual, mental, emotional and physical healing journey. Secwépemc cultural values and teachings will be shared through a lens that is land based and trauma informed.”

The report going before the TNRD on Thursday says the property, which was previously part of the historic Harper Ranch, is one of several that comprises Spiyu7ullucw Ranch which is now owned and operated by a TteS and Indigena Capital.

“In 1861, Jerome and Thaddeus Harper started purchasing fee simple parcels on the north side of the South Thompson River to develop the Harper Ranch, one of the largest ranches in the Kamloops area. The Reserve to the west was established in 1862, after the Harpers had already set up their cattle operation on lands claimed by Chief Louis,” the report said.

“The owners state that the property was also used as a prisoner of war camp during the Second World War.”

It goes on to say that in 1999, Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc bought the Ranch, including the property in question, adding 20,000 acres of fee simple land and Crown leases for resource development and other economic opportunities in the process.

“The owner states that the Ranch is part of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Douglas Reserve Claim,” the report added. “TteS is currently working their way through the Addition to Reserve process with Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) for other locations in Westsyde and Rayleigh. ISC recommends that the TteS proceed with one Addition to Reserve process at a time, resulting in delayed processing for the properties comprising the Ranch.

“The property will eventually become part of Reserve in the future. While these processes will be complete over the coming years, the TteS wishes to move forward with their development plans as approved and financed by the Federal Government.”

While its not clear what the total project will cost, the report also included the first conceptual drawing of the healing centre.