JOINT STATEMENT ON LAND CLAIM – ‘Day-to-day life continues as normal’
Joint statement at 10:16 a.m. today (Dec. 12, 2025) from Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc and the City of Kamloops:
Standing Together for Stability, Truth & Community Confidence
Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc and the City of Kamloops are united in providing clarity and reassurance as questions arise across BC regarding land claims.
The fundamentals of property ownership in Kamloops remain unchanged and day-to-day life continues as normal. The Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwepemc Nation Aboriginal Title claim remains in early stages. No declarations have been made, and the claim does not seek private or City-owned land.
Together, our governments call for calm and patience, and encourage the public to seek out factual information. These issues are too important to be shaped by social media, rumours, or those seeking to create division. We encourage residents to rely on credible news outlets and read the decisions directly by name here, or to seek a legal opinion to understand the facts.
Our award-winning partnership, recognized through the UBCM Community Excellence Award and the BC Reconciliation Award, is grounded in collaboration, problem-solving, and a shared vision for long-term stability and prosperity.
We stand firmly together against hate speech, racism, and residential school denialism. Truth, understanding, and education, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 94 Calls to Action, are essential to reconciliation.
Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc and the City of Kamloops remain committed to a safe, stable, and prosperous future for all who share this valley.
We stand together. And together, we will move forward.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
‘The Secwepemc reserve the right to claim Aboriginal rights and title to the whole of Secwepemc Traditional Territory in the future’ – quoted from the legal claim. If this is not what they want… make a claim about what you want. No one is preventing voices from being heard on environmental or resource extraction issues.
Why is the City opposing the claim in the courts and then pretending it’s no big deal in the public square?
Is this posturing so the negotiation lands somewhere closer to veto power over anything that is not aligned with their belief systems? No one files court documents just for fun… there is clearly a motive that has not been disclosed.
I have deep respect and see incredible value from learning to view things through the lens of others. However, I support the will of the majority, which bends its ear to the minority, not the minority dictating to the majority.
No one is denying a historical claim. We’re opposing a modern claim. It is not aboriginal land anymore. No more than any other people whose ancestors occupied other land or were there first. For all of history, ownership was via conquest. This may not have been a moral good, but it is historical truth.
Oppression of Indigenous peoples is illegal, if you see it, call it, and I will come fight by your side. Indigenous people are Canadian, with all the rights and privileges that affords them, and more. But no crime committed by our ancestors should be paid for by our children. That would become oppression by Indigenous, not reconciliation.
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The City has not filed a legal challenge to the SSN land claim.
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They were happy to campaign behind the “Truth and Reconciliation ” banner.
Now, they drop the Truth, and campaign under the “Reconciliation” banner.
I want more Truth, less Reconciliation.
Anyone agree with me?
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Go over to the reserve and see the signs telling you to stay off their land. You may be able to keep your home but you’ll be fenced in on all sides by this type of demand.
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I asked one simple question to the “Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc” people.
“How can anyone expect to achieve Reconciliation and expect everyone else to be happy about it?”
..and because of this, I was blocked from their social media page, and ignored.
Should I take that as a sign that these people are NOT interested in talking. Or even attempting to put me at ease themselves if all they want to achieve comes to past and I might lose my home?
I could go on… but I’d rather SOMEONE, ANYONE answer this straightforward question.
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for clarity, is fee simply rights eliminated from the land claim. So, it is simple just state in law that fee simple title is not underlain in land claim or treaty. I haven’t see that yet.
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