A historic agreement marking a new level of collaboration between the Thompson Nicola Regional District and Tk’emlups has been approved for signing by the TNRD board.

Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding with Tk’emlups marks the culmination of some two years of work between TNRD and Tk’emlups staff to get the agreement drafted and finalized.

TNRD Chair Barbara Roden says the MOU recognizes a government-to-government relationship between the two sides.

“It’s a way of ensuring that the two governments are talking to each other, staff are talking to each other in particular about concerns, about challenges, about opportunities that come up affecting both the TNRD and TteS,” said Roden.

She concedes that while the MOU is mostly symbolic, she says it does include a practical element to it as well.

“It does include language that will mean that staff from both governments will meet on a regular basis,” said Roden.  “In a lot of cases, it will just be to touch base. Here’s what we’re working on. Here’s where we are at with different things.”

Roden says the official signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is tentatively set to take place as part of a formal ceremony later in October, though an exact date has not yet been confirmed.

She says the formalization of ties with Tk’emlups is a goal already baked into the Regional District’s mandate.

“It’s something that the TNRD is really committed to. It’s in our strategic plan, First Nations relations,” noted Roden.  “This will be the second MOU we’ve signed. We did one with the Simpcw First Nation in July of this year. Very excited to be doing Tk’emlups.”

The TNRD agreement is similar to a pact the City of Kamloops signed with Tk’emlups in 2019, which pledges to protect Secwepemc culture, while also promising to continue their collaboration.