The city of Kamloops will be installing a new, permanent memorial to the late Capt. Jenn Casey, the former Snowbirds Public Affairs Officer, at the future Fulton Field Park by the airport.

Mayor Ken Christian says this will be how the city officially remembers the tragic crash on May 17 of last year.

“We will be adjacent to Rivers Trail. It will be a place for Kamloops residents to meet, and for some to observe aviation, some to remember military service, and for others to reflect on the life and vision of Capt. Casey,” he said, during a press conference at City Hall.

Fulton Field Park will be located on Tranquille Road between Airport Road and Aviation Way. Christian says the park will include some history on the relationship that Kamloops has with the Canadian Military and the Snowbirds.

“It will be an interpretive park that will talk about the history of Fulton Field, and [Kamloops native] John ‘Moose’ Fulton, the original Commanding Officer of the 419 Squadron based in Cold Lake, Alberta,” Christian added.

“It will go on to talk about the Snowbirds and their importance as a Canadian institution. Then it will go on to talk about the life of Captain Casey and also Richard MacDougall who piloted Snowbird 11 on that day.”

Casey, a Halifax native, was killed when the Snowbird Tutor jet she was in crashed shortly after takeoff from Kamloops Airport. An investigation later concluded that Snowbird 11 lost power after a small bird was sucked into the engine shortly after takeoff.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, the Commanding Officer of the Snowbirds, Lt.-Col. Denis Bandet, says the one-year anniversary of the crash is affecting members of the Snowbirds team in different ways.

“The team is really almost like an extended big family and so some people take solace in being together in a big group and some people take time to be alone to reflect on their personal memories,” he said. “So we just give everybody that space and recognize that everyone’s a little bit different in how they are dealing with everything and from that, we’ll move forward.”

The Fulton Field Park project is currently being designed and it comes with an estimated cost of about $500,000.

“We looked at different kinds of things but Transport Canada has a lot of rules about what you can put in and around airports so this will be a low rise kind of park,” Christian added. “Its going to have a lot of benches, low shrubbery, the military colours, and then the tributes and the storyboards that I talked about.”

Joining the Mayor for the announcement was Capt. Jennifer Casey’s partner, Capt. Scott Boyd, as well as her childhood friend Morgan Muise, originally from Halifax, but who travelled from Cochrane, Alta., and her university roommate, Dan McDonald, who travelled here from Calgary.

A member of the Snowbirds team last year, Boyd was wearing a hockey jersey with Casey’s name on it that was part of a memorial fundraiser by the Junior A Trenton Golden Hawks hockey team organized last fall.

“This has been the longest year of my life, but it also feels like just yesterday,” Boyd added.

A Burnaby native, Boyd noted that Casey made it her mission to connect with as many people as possible through Operation Inspiration.

“It wasn’t really until we started doing the flights across the country, and started seeing the support and all the pictures and things like that come in, that we really kind of understood the impact of what we were doing,” Boyd added.

“It is hard to believe that it has already been one year since the tragic accident that claimed the life of my partner and best friend Jenn. The City of Kamloops will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I could not be more proud to be a Canadian and a British Columbian.”

Construction on the permanent memorial is set to begin in 2023 because of Trans Mountain pipeline work currently underway in the area and because of a desire from city staff to align construction with some planned road rehabilitation work on Tranquille Road.

– With files from Jeff Andreas and Colton Davies

 

The new permanent memorial will be at the future Fulton Field Park, on Tranquille Road between Airport Road and Airport Way.

Construction is set to begin in 2023 in conjunction with a beautification and road project on Tranquille. #Kamloops @RadioNLNews pic.twitter.com/9UU5p3jS9k

— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) May 17, 2021

Morgan Muise, Capt. Casey’s childhood friend and Dan McDonald, her roommate in university, embrace at #Kamloops City Hall after today’s announcement. @RadioNLNews pic.twitter.com/ixSqO8xORt

— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) May 17, 2021