Kamloops

Kamloops, British Columbia
Coat of arms Logo
Location of Kamloops within the Thompson-Nicola Regional District in British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates:
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Regions	Thompson Country
District	Thompson-Nicola District
Founded	1818 (fur trading post)
Incorporated	1893
Government
- Mayor	Terry Lake
- Governing body	Kamloops City Council
- MP	Cathy McLeod
- MLAs	Claude Richmond Kevin Krueger
Area
- City	5,686.19 km² (2,195.5 sq mi)
Elevation	360 m (1,181 ft)
Population (2006)
- City	80,376
- Density	16.3/km² (42.2/sq mi)
- Metro	92,882
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
Postal code span	V2B to V2E
Area code(s)	+1-250
Website: Kamloops.BC.ca

Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River and near Kamloops Lake. It is the largest community in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the location of the regional district's offices. The surrounding region is more commonly referred to as the Thompson Country. It is ranked 37th on the list of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada with 92,882 residents in 2006.

Geography and location

Kamloops is situated at 50°43'N 120°25'W, in the Thompson Valley (UTC-8) and the Mountain Cordillera Ecozone. The central core of the city is located in the valley near the confluence of the North and South branches of the Thompson River. Suburbs stretch for more than a dozen kilometers along both North and South branches, as well as to the steep hillsides along the south portion of the city. Kamloops Indian Band areas begin just to the northeast of the downtown core but are not located within the city limits. As a result of this placement, it is necessary to leave Kamloops' city limits and pass through the band lands before re-entering the city limits to access the communities of Rayleigh and Heffley Creek. Kamloops is surrounded by the smaller communities of Cherry Creek, Pritchard, Savona, Scotch Creek, Adams Lake, Chase, Paul Lake, Pinantan and various others.

History

Kamloops and the Thompson River, 1886

The Kamloops area was exclusively inhabited by the Secwepemc (Shuswap) nation (part of the Interior Salish language group) prior to the arrival of European settlers. The first European explorers arrived in 1811, and David Stewart set up Fort Shewhaps (Fort Shuswap), a fur trading post, on the south side of the river junction for the Pacific Fur Company in 1812. The North West Company quickly established Fort Thompson - usually referred to in period documents as Thompson's River Post - on the northeast side of the junction, and the following year the Pacific Fur Company left the area. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company merged with the North West Company and took control of the fur trade at Fort Thompson. In 1842, a new fort, Fort Kamloops was built on the northwest side of the junction.

The gold rush of the 1860s and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s brought further growth, resulting in the City of Kamloops being incorporated in 1893 with a population of about 500.

"Kamloops" is the anglicised version of the Shuswap word "Tk'emlups", meaning 'meeting of the waters'. Shuswap is still actively spoken in the area by members of the Kamloops Indian Band. Another possible origin of the name comes from the French "Camp des loups" meaning 'Camp of Wolves', likely spoken by fur traders.

Industry

Major Kamloops-area industries include primary resource processing such as Domtar Kamloops' Pulp Mill, Tolko-Heffley Creek Plywood and Veneer, LaFarge Cement, Highland Valley Copper Mine (in Logan Lake), and various other industries. There are tertiary services as well, such as the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and Pollard Banknote (which makes the lottery tickets) and NRI distribution, among many others. Kamloops is also a transportation hub for the region due to its connections to Highways 5 and 97C, the Trans-Canada and Yellowhead Highways. It is the first major city east of Abbotsford on the highway. Kamloops is home to Kamloops Airport (Fulton Field), which is a small international airport.

Climate

Locator map for Kamloops, BC

The climate of Kamloops is a semi-arid steppe climate (Koppen climate classification BSk) due to its rainshadow location. While situated in a semi-arid valley, Kamloops has winters that are generally mild and very short with an occasional cold snap where temperatures can drop to around -30 °C (-22 °F) when arctic air floods over the Rocky Mountains into the interior. However Kamloops has not seen -30 since the mid 1990s. Snow can occur from November to March, but most of it falls over a few weeks in December and January. Winter mean temperature is -6.1 °C (20 °F) in January. The average number of cold days below -20 in one year is 6 as recorded by the government of B.C.

Perhaps surprisingly, considering that Kamloops is located at 50° latitude north, summers are quite hot with prevailing dry, and sunny weather. The average July maximum temperature is 28.3 °C (83 °F) and would be higher if not for occasional incursions of cool northerly airmasses. In most years, Kamloops can experience warm weather similar to that in southern California, as summer temperatures come close to or even exceed 40 °C (104 °F). Humidity is generally very low and night time temperatures are moderate.

Spring arrives very early, sometimes in February, due to mild air spilling over the coastal mountains from the Pacific Ocean. On February 27th 2008 Kamloops recorded 15.1 °C (60°F). Fall is generally a pleasant and a mostly dry season. On November 15th 2007 Kamloops recorded a day time high of 18.1 °C (65°F).

Kamloops lies in the "rain shadow" leeward of the Coast Mountains and is biogeographically connected to similar semi-desert and desert areas in the Okanagan region, the Osoyoos area, and the central parts of Washington and Oregon state as well as intermontane areas of Nevada and Idaho in the U.S. These areas of relatively similar climate have many distinctive native plants and animals in common, such as Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), prickly pear cactus (Opuntia fragilis in this case), rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis), Black widow spiders and Lewis's Woodpecker.

Current weather conditions and forecasts can be found at Environment Canada's Weatheroffice website^[3].

Sports

Kamloops hosted the 1993 Canada Summer Games. It co-hosted (with Vancouver and Kelowna) the 2006 IIHF World U-20 Hockey Championship from December 26, 2005, to January 5, 2006. It hosted the 2006 BC Summer Games. The city is known as, and holds a Canadian trademark as, Canada's Tournament Capital^[4].

Sun Peaks Resort is a nearby ski and snowboard hill. Olympic medalist skier Nancy Greene is director of skiing at Sun Peaks and the chancellor of Thompson Rivers University. The Overlander Ski Club runs the Stake Lake cross country ski area with 50 km of trails. Kamloops is home to world-famous mountain bikers such as Wade Simmons and Matt Hunter^[5]. In 2007, the Kamloops Bike Ranch opened in Juniper Ridge along Highland Drive. The Kamloops Rotary Skatepark located at McArthur Island is one of the largest skateboard parks in Canada. Kamloops will host the 2011 Western Canada summer Games.

Kamloops is home to the Western Hockey League's Kamloops Blazers, who play at the Interior Savings Centre, the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League's Kamloops Junior B Rattlers, as well as the Kamloops Storm. Also calling Kamloops home is the Canadian Junior Football League's Kamloops Broncos, and Pacific Coast Soccer League's Kamloops Excel, both of whom play at Hillside Stadium.

Alumni of the Kamloops Blazers include:Mark Recchi, Jarome Iginla, Darryl Sydor, Nolan Baumgartner, Shane Doan, Scott Neidermayer and Darcy Tucker.

Kamloops is also the hometown of world champion curler Jason Manchester.

There is a proposal to bring a Golden Baseball League expansion team to Kamloops for the 2009 season. If successful, it would be the city's first professional baseball team and the league's third Canadian team.^{[6] [7] [8]}

Demographics

(according to Statistics Canada 2001 census^[9])
Population: 86,491.
Growth Rate (1996-2001): 1.2%
Total Private Dwellings: 36,807
Area: 297.57 km²
Density: 290.7 people per km²

Visible minority status

Total visible minority population (excluding Aboriginal peoples): 4,675

• South Asian: 1,790 or 1.9%
• Chinese: 1,000 or 1.1%
• Japanese: 690 or 0.74%
• Black: 340 or 0.4%
• Filipino: 305 or 0.3%
• Southeast Asian: 150 or 0.16%
• Korean: 150 or 0.16%
• Latin America: 130 or 0.13%
• Arab: 35 or 0.03%
• West Asian: 30 or 0.03%

• Non-classified visible minorities: 10 or 0.01%
• Multiple visible minorities: 45 or 0.04%^[9]

Religious groups

• 35.0% Protestant
• 19.2% Roman Catholic
• 6.0% other Christian
• 1.7% Sikh
• 36.6% Other religion or no religion^[9]

Media

Main article: Media in Kamloops

Education

Public schools

Public schools in the Kamloops area are part of School District 73 Kamloops/Thompson^[10].

Post-secondary

Kamloops is home to Thompson Rivers University^[11], an undergraduate degree-granting university with satellite campuses in Clearwater, Barriere, Chase, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, Cache Creek, Ashcroft, and Lillooet. TRU also has an open-distance learning division. Kamloops is also home to a satellite campus of Simon Fraser University. TRU has begun to offer MBA, M.Ed, and M.Sc. programs as well as undergraduate degrees.

Neighbourhoods

Officially recognized neighbourhoods within the city of Kamloops^[12]. Unofficially recognized areas are listed beneath the neighbourhoods to which they belong:

• Aberdeen
• Barnhartvale
• Batchelor Heights
• Brocklehurst
• Campbell Creek
• Dallas
• Dufferin
• Heffley Creek
• Juniper Ridge
• Knutsford
• Lac Le Jeune
• Lower Sahali
  • Peterson Creek
• MacArthur Island
• Mission Flats
• Mount Dufferin
  • Versatile
• Noble Creek
• North Shore
• Rayleigh
• Rose Hill
• Southgate
• Thompson Rivers University
• Tranquille
• Upper Sahali
• Valleyview
• West End
• Westsyde
  • Westmount

Notable people

Below is a list of people who are from Kamloops, or who lived there for an extended period.

• Dylan Armstrong, 2008 Olympics shotputter who finished 4th.
• Michael Shanks, actor, Stargate SG-1, born in Vancouver, BC, but grew up in Kamloops ^[13]
• Leonard Marchand, P.C., C.M., the first person of First Nations ethnicity to serve in the federal cabinet and the first Status Indian to serve as a Member of Parliament See External Links below for references
• Mark Recchi, professional hockey player^[14]
• Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames team captain NHL^[15]
• Maher Arar, falsely accused as a terrorist and was detained in Syria^[16] (Arar lived in Kamloops for only about a year.)
• Lesra Martin, lawyer who helped with Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter's prison release ^[17]
• Ajaib Singh Bagri, suspect acquitted in the Air India Flight 182 terrorist bombing ^[18]
• Mitch Berger, NFL player^[19]
• Peter Wing, North America's first mayor of Chinese descent^[20]
• Chris Masuak, Australian punk rock musician , lived in Kamloops 1968 to 1970
• Boris Karloff, actor, lived in Kamloops while working for the Jeanne Russell Theatre Company, ca. 1910
• Jolene Downey, Barrell Racer from Kamloops, who won the 2006 Calgary Stampede Barrell Racing Championship
• Todd MacFarlane Lived in and played baseball in Kamloops

Politics

• Mayor – Terry Lake
• Members of the Legislative Assembly:
  • Claude Richmond, Kamloops
  • Kevin Krueger, Kamloops/North Thompson

Federal Members of Parliament:

• Cathy McLeod (2008–present) Conservative Party of Canada
• Betty Hinton (2000–2008) Conservative Party of Canada
• Nelson Riis (1980–2000) NDP
• Don Cameron (1979–1980) PC
• Len Marchand (1968–1979) Liberal Party of Canada

New member: Peter Milobar - Mayor Effective December 1st

Planetary nomenclature

More recently, the city's name was adopted for a crater on the surface of Mars. Crater Kamloops was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union, and Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN) in 1991. The location of the crater on the Martian surface is -53.8 degrees South Latitude and 32.6 degrees West Longitude, with a diameter of 65.0 Kilometers.

[1] IAU/WGPSN Planetary Feature Nomenclature Database, USGS Branch of Astrogeology, Flagstaff, Arizona.

[2] Image of KAMLOOPS Crater on MARS, slightly below and just Southwest of Martian Crater GALLE (Crater "Smiley Face").

Sister cities

• Bacolod, Philippines
• Uji, Japan

See also

• List of place names in Canada of Aboriginal origin

References

External links

• Leonard Marchand: The first Status Indian elected to Canada's Parliament
• Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament
• Kamloops in Wikitravel
• City website
• City business development
• Tourism and things to do in Kamloops
• Kamloops Heritage Railway
• Kamloops Daily News website
• Kamloops Players - Community Theatre Club
• Open Learning @ Thompson Rivers University

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