The City of Kamloops is going to be officially advocating for changes to the temperature thresholds to open up emergency winter shelters.

City council is backing a notice of motion put forward by councillor Dale Bass, which calls for the current threshold of -10 degrees in Kamloops and the rest of the Southern Interior to be increased to zero for shelters to open.

Bass says she’s not optimistic the approach — which is to get the Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) to lobby on Kamloops’ behalf — will resonate with the province.

However, she suggests its worth the effort.

“These issues are not our issues. I know we’re going to take them on, because that’s what we do,” said Bass.  “They’ll all go into that chart that councillor Neustaeter has you guys [staff] preparing for the cost for everything that is downloaded to us. But what’s a human life’s worth.”

Bass says her push is also driven by personal motivations.

“I had a friend die of hypothermia who was unhoused. I’ve never gotten over it, cause I didn’t do anything to help him, because I didn’t know he was out there,” said Bass.  “He had a place to live in, but the agency wouldn’t let him back in because he was drunk.”

Bass’ suggestion of the zero-degree threshold is based on BC Center for Disease Control recommendations, and would put the rest of the province in-line with the temperature guidelines in the Lower Mainland.