Kamloops is a city in south central British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, at the confluence of the two branches of the Thompson River

Thompson River

The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches called the South Thompson and the North Thompson...

 and near Kamloops Lake

Kamloops Lake

Kamloops Lake in British Columbia, Canada is situated on the Thompson River just west of Kamloops. The lake is 1.6 km wide, 29 km long, and up to 152 m deep...

. 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

Thompson Country

The Thompson Country, also referred to as The Thompson and in some ways as the Thompson Valley and historically known as the Couteau Country or Couteau District, is a historic geographic region of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, based around the basin of the Thompson River, a tributary...

. It is ranked 37th on the list of the 100 largest metropolitan area

Metropolitan area

The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...

s in Canada and represents the 44th largest census agglomeration nationwide, with 92,882 residents in 2006.

History

The Kamloops area was not exclusively inhabited by the Secwepemc

Secwepemc

The Secwepemc , known in English as the Shuswap people, are a First Nations people residing in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Their traditional territory ranges from the eastern Chilcotin Plateau and the Cariboo Plateau southeast through the Thompson Country to Kamloops and the Shuswap...

 (Shuswap) nation (part of the Interior Salish language group) prior to the arrival of European settlers. The Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

-Saulteaux

Saulteaux

The Saulteaux are a First Nation in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.-Ethnic classification:The Saulteaux are a branch of the Ojibwe nations. They are sometimes also called Anihšināpē . Saulteaux is a French term meaning "people of the rapids," referring to...

 band led by Chief Yawassannay had migrated to this region in the early 15th century. The Yawassanay band's Kamloops settlement was the largest of their three tribal areas. The first European explorers arrived in 1811, in the person of David Stuart, sent out from Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria

Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast. After a short two-year term of US ownership, the British owned and operated it for 33 years. It was the first British port on the Pacific coast...

, then still a Pacific Fur Company

Pacific Fur Company

The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed to working partners...

 post, and who spent a winter there with the Secwepemc people, with Alexander Ross

Alexander Ross (fur trader)

-Fur trader and explorer:Ross emigrated to Upper Canada, present day , from Scotland about 1805.In 1811, while working for John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, Ross took part in the founding of Fort Astoria, a fur-trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River...

 establishing a post there in May 1812 - "Fort Cumcloups".

The rival North West Company

North West Company

The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...

 established another post - Fort Shuswap - nearby in the same year. The two operations were merged in 1813 when the North West Company officials in the region bought out the operations of the Pacific Fur Company. After the North West Company's forced merger with the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 in 1821, the post became known commonly as Thompson's River Post, or Fort Thompson, which over time became known as Fort Kamloops. The post's journals, kept by its Chief Traders, document a series of inter-Indian wars and personalities for the period and also give much insight to the goings-on of the fur companies and their personnel throughout the entire Pacific slope

Pacific Slope

The Pacific Slope describes geographic regions in North American, Central American, and South American countries that are west of the continental divide and slope down to the Pacific Ocean. In North America, the Rocky Mountains mark the eastern border of the Pacific Slope...

.

Soon after the forts were founded, the main local village of the Secwepemc, then headed by a chief named Kwa'lila, was moved close to the trading post

Trading post

A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

 in order to control access to its trade, as well as for prestige and protection. With Kwalila's death, the local chieftaincy was passed to his nephew and foster-son Chief Nicola

Nicola (chief)

Nicola , also Nkwala or N'kwala, was an important First Nations political figure in the fur trade era of the British Columbia Interior as well as into the colonial period...

, who led an alliance of Okanagan

Okanagan people

The Okanagan people, also spelled Okanogan, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the U.S.-Canada boundary in Washington state and British Columbia...

 and Nlaka'pamux

Nlaka'pamux

The Nlaka'pamux , commonly called "the Thompson", and also Thompson River Salish, Thompson Salish, Thompson River Indians or Thompson River people) are an indigenous First Nations/Native American people of the Interior Salish language group in southern British Columbia...

 people in the plateau country to the south around Stump

Stump Lake

Stump Lake is a lake in the Nicola Country region of the South-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located northeast from and of a similar size to Nicola Lake...

, Nicola

Nicola Lake

Nicola Lake is a glacially formed narrow, deep lake located in the South-Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada approximately ten kilometres northeast of the city of Merritt...

 and Douglas Lake

Douglas Lake

Douglas Lake, also called Douglas Reservoir, is a reservoir created by an impoundment of the French Broad River in Eastern Tennessee. This lake is located only a few miles from the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, and also the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...

s.

Relations between Nicola and the fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

rs were often tense but in the end Nicola was recognised as a great help to the influx of whites during the gold rush, though admonishing those who had been in parties waging violence and looting on the Okanagan Trail

Okanagan Trail

The Okanagan Trail was an inland route to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush from the Lower Columbia region of the Washington and Oregon Territories in 1858-1859...

, which led from American territory to the Fraser goldfields

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush

The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River. This was a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day Lytton...

. Throughout, Kamloops was an important way station on the route of the Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail

Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail

The Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail, sometimes referred to simply as the Brigade Trail, refers to one of two routes used by Hudson's Bay Company fur traders to transport furs, goods and supplies between coastal and Columbia District headquarters at Fort Vancouver and those in New Caledonia and also in...

, which originally connected Fort Astoria with Fort Alexandria

Alexandria, British Columbia

Alexandria or Fort Alexandria is a National Historic Site of Canada on the Fraser River in British Columbia, and was the end of the Old Cariboo Road and the Cariboo Wagon Road...

 and the other forts in New Caledonia

New Caledonia (Canada)

New Caledonia was the name given to a district of the Hudson's Bay Company that comprised the territory largely coterminous with the present-day province of British Columbia, Canada. Though not a British colony, New Caledonia was part of the British claim to North America. Its administrative...

 to the north (today's Omineca Country

Omineca Country

The Omineca Country, also called the Omineca District or the Omineca, is a historical geographic region of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, roughly defined by the basin of the Omineca River but including areas to the south which allowed access to the region during the Omineca Gold Rush of...

, roughly), and which continued in heavy use through the onset of the Cariboo Gold Rush

Cariboo Gold Rush

The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Although the first gold discovery was made in 1859 at Horsefly Creek, followed by more strikes at Keithley Creek and Antler Horns lake in 1860, the actual rush did not begin until 1861, when these discoveries were...

 as the main route to the new goldfields around what was to become Barkerville

Barkerville, British Columbia

Barkerville was the main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada and is preserved as a historic town. It is located on the north slope of the Cariboo Plateau near the Cariboo Mountains east of Quesnel along BC Highway 26, which follows the route of the original access to...

.

The gold rush of the 1860s and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 in the 1880s brought further growth, resulting in the City of Kamloops being incorporated in 1893 with a population of about 500. The logging industry of the 1970s brought many Indo-Canadians

Indo-Canadians

Indo-Canadians are Canadians whose origins trace back to India. The terms East Indian and South Asian are used to distinguish people of ancestral origin from India, from the First Nations peoples of Canada who are often referred to as Indian, and from the people of the Caribbean, who are sometimes...

 into the Kamloops area, mostly from the Punjab region of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Etymology

"Kamloops" is the anglicised version of the Shuswap

Shuswap language

The Shuswap language, known to its speakers as Secwepemctsín , is the traditional language of the Shuswap people of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern interior of British Columbia between the Fraser River and the Rocky Mountains...

 word "Tk'əmlúps", meaning 'meeting of the waters'. Shuswap is still spoken in the area by members of the Tk'emlúps Indian Band.

An alternate origin sometimes given for the name may have come from the native name's accidental similarity to the French "Camp des loups", meaning 'Camp of Wolves'; many early fur trader

Voyageur

Voyageur is a French word meaning "voyager" or "traveler".Voyageur can refer to:*Voyageurs, persons who transported furs by canoe during the fur trade era....

s spoke French. One story perhaps connected with this version of the name concerns an attack by a pack of wolves, much built up in story to one huge white wolf, or a pack of wolves and other animals, traveling overland from the Nicola Country

Nicola Country

The Nicola Country, also known as the Nicola Valley and often referred to simply as The Nicola, and originally Nicolas' Country or Nicholas' Country, adapted to Nicola's Country and simplified since, is a region in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada...

 being repelled by a single shot by John Tod, then Chief Trader, with his musket - at a distance of some 200 yd (182.9 m). The shot caused the admiration of native witnesses and is said to have given the Chief Trader a great degree of respect locally, preventing the fort from attack.

Industry

Industries in the Kamloops area include primary resource processing such as Domtar

Domtar

Domtar Corporation is the largest integrated producer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America and the second largest in the world based on production capacity, and is also a manufacturer of papergrade pulp....

 Kamloops Pulp Mill, Tolko-Heffley Creek Plywood and Veneer, Lafarge

Lafarge

Lafarge is a French industrial company specialising in four major products: cement, construction aggregates, concrete and gypsum wallboard. In 2010 the company was the world's second-largest cement manufacturer by mass shipped behind Holcim.-History:...

 Cement, Highland Valley Copper Mine (in Logan Lake

Logan Lake, British Columbia

Logan Lake is a district municipality in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada.It was founded in the 1960s and 70s to support copper, molybdenum and other mineral mining operations located south of the town. The Village of Logan Lake was incorporated in November 1970, and was...

), and others. RHI (Royal Inland Hospital) is the city's largest employer. TRU (Thompson Rivers University) serves a student body of 10,000 including a diverse international contingent. Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL)

Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL)

Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning is a Canadian distance education provider, operating as the Open Learning Division of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. The Open Learning division, which is situated in the BC Centre for Open Learning on TRU's Kamloops campus,...

 is the biggest distance education provider in British Columbia and one of the biggest in Canada.

There are tertiary industrial sector entities such as

• British Columbia Lottery Corporation
  British Columbia Lottery Corporation
  The British Columbia Lottery Corporation is a Crown Corporation of the Province of British Columbia, Canada.It has provided government sanctioned lottery services in British Columbia since 1985...
  
  
• Domtar
  Domtar
  Domtar Corporation is the largest integrated producer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America and the second largest in the world based on production capacity, and is also a manufacturer of papergrade pulp....
  
  
• Tolko
  Tolko
  Tolko Industries Ltd. is a privately owned forest products company based in Vernon, British Columbia. It manufactures and markets specialty forest products to world markets. Tolko's products include lumber, plywood, veneer, oriented strand board, and kraft papers...
  
  

Culture

Kamloops is home to many galleries including the Kamloops Art Gallery, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, Western Canada Theatre

Western Canada Theatre

Western Canada Theatre is a professional theatre company located in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1969 by Tom Kerr under the name Western Canada Youth Theatre....

, the British Columbia Wildlife Park

British Columbia Wildlife Park

The British Columbia Wildlife Park is a zoo located in Kamloops, British Columbia.The British Columbia Wildlife Park is an accredited member of the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums .-The proposal:...

. and the Kamloops Heritage Railway.

Transportation

Kamloops is also a transportation hub for the region due to its connections to Highways 5 and 97C, the Trans-Canada

Trans-Canada Highway

The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...

 and Yellowhead Highway

Yellowhead Highway

The Yellowhead Highway is a major east-west highway connecting the four western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Although part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, the highway should not be confused with the more southerly, originally-designated...

s.

Kamloops North railway station

Kamloops North railway station

The Kamloops North railway station is on the Canadian National Railway mainline in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, at the Canadian National Railway Yards. The station is served by Via Rail's The Canadian three times per week in each direction....

 is served three times per week (in each direction) by Via Rail

VIA Rail

Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....

's The Canadian.

Kamloops is home to Kamloops Airport

Kamloops Airport

Kamloops Airport is an airport located in the Brocklehurst area of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada and is located west northwest of the town. It is owned and operated by Kamloops Airport Ltd. and YVRAS . In 2009, YKA served 260,371 passengers and in 2010 had 36,094 Aircraft movements...

 (Fulton Field), a small Regional airport currently being expanded, with construction underway into 2010. YKA has averaged a 15% increase in air travelers every month since 2004. Airlines currently flying to Kamloops are Air Canada

Air Canada

Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...

, WestJet

WestJet

WestJet Airlines Ltd. is a Canadian low-cost carrier that provides scheduled and charter air service to 71 destinations in Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. Founded in 1996, WestJet is currently the second largest Canadian air carrier, behind Air Canada, operating an average of...

 and Central Mountain Air

Central Mountain Air

Central Mountain Air Ltd. is a Canadian regional airline based in Smithers, British Columbia. It operates scheduled and charter services and transborder services...

.

Local bus service is provided by the Kamloops Transit System.

Geography and location

Kamloops is situated in the Thompson Valley and the Montane 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 kilometres along both north and south branches, as well as to the steep hillsides along the south portion of the city and lower northeast hill sides.

Kamloops Indian Band

Kamloops Indian Band

The Kamloops Indian Band, also known as the Tk’umlups Indian Band, is one of the largest of the 17 groups into which the Secwepemc nation was divided when the Colony of British Columbia established an Indian reserve system in the 1860s...

 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

Pritchard, British Columbia

Pritchard is a small community located in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of roughly 2,000, and its main industries are farming and tourism. Pritchard is located on The Trans-Canada Highway between Kamloops, British Columbia and Chase, British Columbia, near the Hwy...

, Savona

Savona, British Columbia

Savona is a small community located at the west end of Kamloops Lake, where the Thompson River exits it. It is approximately halfway between Kamloops and Cache Creek along the Trans-Canada Highway...

, Scotch Creek

Scotch Creek, British Columbia

Scotch Creek is a small community in British Columbia based on summer tourism located on the shores of northern Shuswap Lake at the mouth of the creek of the same name.-References:""...

, Adams Lake

Adams Lake

Adams Lake is a large, deep, coldwater lake. The southern end of the lake is approximately north of the town of Chase in the Shuswap Country region of British Columbia, Canada. The lake's upper reaches lie in the northern Monashee Mountains, while its lower end penetrates the Shuswap...

, Chase

Chase, British Columbia

Chase is a village located in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of roughly 2,500, and its main industries are forestry and tourism. It is located at the outlet of Little Shuswap Lake, which is the source of the South Thompson River...

, Paul Lake, Pinantan and various others.

Climate

The climate of Kamloops is semi-arid (Köppen climate classification

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

 BSk) due to its rain shadow

Rain shadow

A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. As shown by the diagram to the right, the warm moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds over a mountain...

 location. While situated in a semi-arid valley, Kamloops has winters that are generally mild and short with an occasional cold snap where temperatures can drop to around -30 C when Arctic air

Arctic front

The Arctic front is a term used to describe the semipermanent, semi-continuous weather front between the cold arctic air mass and the warmer air of the polar cell. It can also be defined as the southern boundary of the Arctic air mass....

 manages to cross the Rockies

Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...

 and Columbia Mountains

Columbia Mountains

The Columbia Mountains are a group of mountain ranges located in southeastern British Columbia, and partially in Montana, Idaho and Washington. The mountain range covers 135,952 km² . The range is bounded by the Rocky Mountain Trench on the east, and the Kootenay River on the south; their...

 into the Interior

British Columbia Interior

The British Columbia Interior or BC Interior or Interior of British Columbia, usually referred to only as the Interior, is one of the three main regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the other two being the Lower Mainland, which comprises the overlapping areas of Greater Vancouver...

; this does not happen every winter.
The January mean temperature is -4.2 C. That average increases to 4 °C (39 °F) in February. The average number of cold days below -10 C per year is 8 as recorded by Environment Canada

Environment Canada

Environment Canada , legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment Canada (EC) (French: Environnement Canada), legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment...

.

Although Kamloops is located above 50° north latitude

50th parallel north

The 50th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 50 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....

, summers are hot with prevailing dry, and sunny weather. The average July high temperature is 29 °C (84 °F) and would be higher if not for occasional incursions of cool northerly air mass

Air mass

In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor content. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adopt the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to latitude and their continental or maritime...

es. Daytime humidity

Humidity

Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...

 is generally very low (less than 20%) which allows for substantial nighttime cooling. Occasional summer thunderstorms can create dry-lightning conditions, sometimes igniting forest fires to which the area is prone.

Spring can arrive early due to mild air spilling over the Coast Mountains

Coast Mountains

The Coast Mountains are a major mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia. They are so-named because of their proximity to the sea coast, and are often...

 from the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. Fall is usually pleasant and dry but can be short in duration.

The city has spring and summer water restrictions: in effect only from May 1 to August 31.

Kamloops lies in the rain shadow leeward of the Coast Mountains and is biogeographically connected to similar semi-desert areas in the Okanagan

Okanagan

The Okanagan , also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as Okanagan Country is a region located in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. As of 2009, the region's population is approximately 350,927. The...

 region, and a much larger area covering the central/eastern portions of Washington, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 and intermontane

Intermontane Belt

The Intermontane Belt is a physiogeological region in the Pacific Northwest of North America, stretching from northern Washington into British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. It comprises rolling hills, high plateaus and deeply cut valleys. The rocks in the belt have very little similarities with the...

 areas of Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 and Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

 in the US.

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

Artemisia tridentata is a shrub or small tree from the family Asteraceae. Some botanists treat it in the segregate genus Seriphidium, as S. tridentatum W. A. Weber, but this is not widely followed...

 (Artemisia tridentata), prickly pear

Opuntia

Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...

 cactus (Opuntia fragilis

Opuntia fragilis

Opuntia fragilis, known by the common names brittle prickly pear and little prickly pear, is a prickly pear cactus native to much of North America. It occurs in several Canadian provinces. It is known from farther north than any other cactus, occurring at as close as 8°south of the Arctic Circle, ...

in this case), rattlesnake

Rattlesnake

Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...

s (Crotalus viridis), Black widow spiders and Lewis's Woodpecker

Lewis's Woodpecker

The Lewis's Woodpecker, Melanerpes lewis, is a large North American species of woodpecker which was named for Meriwether Lewis, one of the explorers who surveyed the areas bought by the United States of America during the Louisiana Purchase.-Description:...

.

	Hottest summer	Most days above 30°C	Driest!!Warmest spring!!Fewest fog days!!Most sunny days in warm months!!Most growing degree days!!Most days without precipitation
Rank among 100 largest Canadian cities	1st	1st	2nd (next to Whitehorse)	2nd (next to Chilliwack)	2nd (next to Penticton)	2nd (next to Portage la Prairie)	3rd (next to Windsor and St. Catharines-Niagara)	3rd (next to Medicine Hat and Lethbridge)
Value	26.94 °C (80.5 °F)	29.28	278.98 mm (10.98 in)	9.65 °C (49.4 °F)	7.28	148.93	2308.61	258.12
Data is for Kamloops Airport (YKA), in the city of Kamloops, 5 NM west northwest of the town.

Sports

Club	League	Sport	Venue	Established	Championships
Kamloops Blazers Kamloops Blazers The Kamloops Blazers are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League based out of Kamloops, British Columbia. They play their home games at Interior Savings Centre.-History:...	WHL Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...	Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...	Interior Savings Centre Interior Savings Centre The Interior Savings Centre is a 5,658-seat multi-purpose arena in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the Kamloops Blazers Ice hockey team....	1981	9
Kamloops Rattlers	TOJLL Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the British Columbia Lacrosse Association in British Columbia, Canada. The TOJLL's Kamloops Venom became the leagues first Provincial Champions in 2010...	Box lacrosse Box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse and sometimes shortened to boxla, LAX or simply box, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada, where it is the most popular version of the game played in contrast to the traditional field lacrosse game...	Memorial Arena	2001	5
Kamloops Storm Kamloops Storm The Kamloops Storm are a junior ice hockey team based in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Doug Birks Division of the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League . They play their home games at McArthur Park Arena.The Storm played in...	KIJHL Kootenay International Junior Hockey League The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League is a Junior "B" Ice Hockey league in British Columbia, Canada, sanctioned by Hockey Canada. The winner of the KIJHL playoffs competes with the champions of the Pacific International Junior Hockey League and the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League...	Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...	McArthur Park Arena	2006	0
Kamloops Broncos Kamloops Broncos The Kamloops Broncos are a Canadian Junior Football team based in Kamloops, British Columbia. The Broncos play in the six-team B.C. Football Conference , which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Football League and competes annually for the national title known as the Canadian Bowl.The team was...	CJFL Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League is a national amateur Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in six provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl...	Football Canadian football Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...	Hillside Stadium Hillside Stadium Hillside Stadium is a multi-purpose, fully lit stadium located next to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. It is the home of the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, Kamloops Broncos of the Canadian Junior Football League, and the Kamloops Excel of the Pacific Coast Soccer League...	2000	0
Kamloops Excel Kamloops Excel Kamloops Excel is a Canadian soccer team based in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 2007, the team plays in Pacific Coast Soccer League , a national amateur league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, which features teams from western Canada and the Pacific Northwest...	PCSL Pacific Coast Soccer League The Pacific Coast Soccer League is a soccer league featuring teams from British Columbia, although the league has also featured teams from Washington in the past as well...	Soccer	Hillside Stadium Hillside Stadium Hillside Stadium is a multi-purpose, fully lit stadium located next to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. It is the home of the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, Kamloops Broncos of the Canadian Junior Football League, and the Kamloops Excel of the Pacific Coast Soccer League...	2007	0

Kamloops hosted the 1993 Canada Summer Games

Canada Games

The Canada Games is a high-level multi-sport event with a National Artists Program held every two years in Canada, alternating between the Canada Winter Games and the Canada Summer Games. Athletes are strictly amateur only, and represent their province or territory.The Games were first held in 1967...

. It co-hosted (with Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 and Kelowna

Kelowna

Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...

) the 2006 IIHF World U20 Championship from December 26, 2005, to January 5, 2006. It hosted the 2006 BC Summer Games

BC Summer Games

The BC Summer Games are an amateur sporting event held every year annually in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The next games are slated to be held in Langley, BC from July 22 - July 25, 2010....

. In the summer of 2008, Kamloops, and its modern facility the Tournament Capital Centre, played host to the U15 boys and girls Basketball National Championship. The city is known as, and holds a Canadian trademark as, Canada's Tournament Capital.

Sun Peaks Resort

Sun Peaks Resort

Sun Peaks Resort is an alpine ski resort located 50 km northeast of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.The summit of the ski area is at an elevation of 2,080 m , with an 881 m vertical rise from the base of the peak...

 is a nearby ski and snowboard hill. Olympic medallist

1968 Winter Olympics

The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1968 in Grenoble, France and opened on 6 February. Thirty-seven countries participated...

 skier Nancy Greene

Nancy Greene

Nancy Catherine Greene, OC, OBC, OD is a Canadian Senator for British Columbia and a champion alpine skier voted as Canada's Female Athlete of the 20th Century...

 is director of skiing at Sun Peaks and the former chancellor of Thompson Rivers University. The Overlander Ski Club runs the Stake Lake cross country ski

Cross-country skiing

Cross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...

 area with 50 km (31.1 mi) of trails. Kamloops is home to world-famous mountain bikers

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...

 such as freeride pioneers and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame members Wade Simmons

Wade Simmons

Wade Simmons is a mountain biker from Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada who has won the Red Bull Rampage Utah 2001 and placed second in the same year in the Red Bull Rampage Australia...

, Brett Tippie, (also a former Canadian National Team member for snowboard cross and giant slalom), Richie Schley. Also home to freerider Matt Hunter. Kamloops was featured in the first mountain bike film by Greg Stump, "Pulp Traction", and later the first three "Kranked" films, which starred the original Froriders, Tippie, Simmons and Schley. 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 is home to the Western Hockey League

Western Hockey League

The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

's Kamloops Blazers

Kamloops Blazers

The Kamloops Blazers are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League based out of Kamloops, British Columbia. They play their home games at Interior Savings Centre.-History:...

 who play at the Interior Savings Centre

Interior Savings Centre

The Interior Savings Centre is a 5,658-seat multi-purpose arena in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It is home to the Kamloops Blazers Ice hockey team....

. Alumni of the Kamloops Blazers include Mark Recchi

Mark Recchi

Mark Louis Recchi is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played 22 years in the National Hockey League , most notably for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens...

, Jarome Iginla

Jarome Iginla

Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League . A six-time NHL All-Star, he is the Flames' all-time leader in goals, points, and games played, and is second in assists to Al MacInnis...

, Darryl Sydor

Darryl Sydor

Darryl Marion Sydor is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He has won two Stanley Cups during his career; with the Dallas Stars in 1999 and with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004...

, Nolan Baumgartner

Nolan Baumgartner

Nolan Baumgartner is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who currently plays within the Vancouver Canucks organization of the National Hockey League .-Playing career:...

, Shane Doan

Shane Doan

Shane Albert Doan is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and captain of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League . Doan is the longest tenured player on the club, having played all fourteen of his NHL seasons with the original Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes franchise...

, Scott Niedermayer

Scott Niedermayer

Scott Niedermayer is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for two teams: the New Jersey Devils and the Anaheim Ducks. Niedermayer was known for his skating stride, and ability for leading or joining the offensive rush...

, Rudy Poeschek

Rudy Poeschek

Rudolph Leopold "Pot Pie" Poeschek is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Tampa Bay Lightning, and St. Louis Blues. He played defence and shot right-handed....

 and Darcy Tucker

Darcy Tucker

Darcy Tucker is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player, who played most of his National Hockey League career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. A sixth round draft choice, Tucker began his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens...

. Two-time champion coach Ken Hitchcock

Ken Hitchcock

Ken Hitchcock also known as "Hitch" is an NHL hockey coach and pro scout, currently coaching the St. Louis Blues.-Early Years:...

 would later win the Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 with the Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The...

. Lacrosse teams include the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League

Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League

The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the British Columbia Lacrosse Association in British Columbia, Canada. The TOJLL's Kamloops Venom became the leagues first Provincial Champions in 2010...

's Kamloops Junior B Rattlers, as well as the Kamloops Storm

Kamloops Storm

The Kamloops Storm are a junior ice hockey team based in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Doug Birks Division of the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League . They play their home games at McArthur Park Arena.The Storm played in...

. Also calling Kamloops home is the Canadian Junior Football League

Canadian Junior Football League

The Canadian Junior Football League is a national amateur Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in six provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl...

's Kamloops Broncos

Kamloops Broncos

The Kamloops Broncos are a Canadian Junior Football team based in Kamloops, British Columbia. The Broncos play in the six-team B.C. Football Conference , which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Football League and competes annually for the national title known as the Canadian Bowl.The team was...

, and Pacific Coast Soccer League

Pacific Coast Soccer League

The Pacific Coast Soccer League is a soccer league featuring teams from British Columbia, although the league has also featured teams from Washington in the past as well...

's Kamloops Excel

Kamloops Excel

Kamloops Excel is a Canadian soccer team based in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 2007, the team plays in Pacific Coast Soccer League , a national amateur league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, which features teams from western Canada and the Pacific Northwest...

, both of whom play at Hillside Stadium

Hillside Stadium

Hillside Stadium is a multi-purpose, fully lit stadium located next to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. It is the home of the Thompson Rivers WolfPack, Kamloops Broncos of the Canadian Junior Football League, and the Kamloops Excel of the Pacific Coast Soccer League...

.

Soccer for the city includes: Kamloops Youth Soccer Association, Kamloops Blaze rep team and the Kamloops Excel (see above). TRU hosts the Thompson Rivers WolfPack

Thompson Rivers WolfPack

The TRU WolfPack are the athletic teams that represent Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. They were formerly known as the UCC Sun Demons, prior to the creation of the university in 2005...

, and has sports teams that include men's and women's volleyball, basketball, soccer and badminton. Also the WolfPack have hockey, rugby, badminton, golf and baseball teams.

Kamloops hosted the World Masters Indoor Championships 2010 on March 1–6, 2010.

Kamloops hosted the 2011 Western Canada Summer Games

Western Canada Summer Games

The Western Canada Summer Games were established in 1975 as a multi-sport event to provide development opportunities for amateur athletes and to help them advance their skills in a competitive, but friendly environment. The games also serve to broaden the exposure of talented athletes and provide a...

.

Demographics

Demographics of the City of Kamloops according to Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....

 2006 census

Canada 2006 Census

The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...

.

• Population: 86,376
• Aboriginal population
  Aboriginal peoples in Canada
  Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....
  
  : 5,165 (6.43%)
• Growth rate (2001–2006): 4.0%

• Total private dwellings: 34,163
• Land area: 297.3 km² (114.8 sq mi)
• Density: 270.4 PD/sqkm

Visible minorities

Total visible minority

Visible minority

A visible minority is a person who is visibly not one of the majority race in a given population.The term is used as a demographic category by Statistics Canada in connection with that country's Employment Equity policies. The qualifier "visible" is important in the Canadian context where...

 population: 5,030

• South Asian: 1,540 (1.92%)
• Chinese: 1,065 (1.33%)
• Japanese: 775 (0.96%)
• Filipino: 605 (0.75%)
• Southeast Asian: 235 (0.29%)
• Black: 350 (0.50%)

• Latin America: 195 (0.24%)
• Multiple visible minorities: 140 (0.17%)
• Korean: 100 (0.12%)
• Non-classified visible minorities: 89 (0.11%)
• Arab: 70 (0.09%)
• West Asian: 50 (0.06%)

Religious groups

Data is from the 2001 census

Canada 2001 Census

The Canada 2001 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 15, 2001. On that day, Statistics Canada attempted to count every person in Canada. The total population count of Canada was 30,007,094. This was a 4% increase over 1996 Census of 28,846,761. In...

.

• No religious affiliation: 28,280 (36.81%)
• Protestant
  Protestantism
  Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
  
  : 27,050 (35.21%)
• Catholic: 14,835 (19.31%)
• Other Christian
  Christian
  A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
  
  : 3,705 (4.82%)
• Sikh
  Sikhism
  Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
  
  : 1,340 (1.74%)
• Buddhist
  Buddhism
  Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
  
  : 455 (0.59%)

• Orthodox Christian
  Orthodox Christianity
  The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
  
  : 360 (0.47%)
• Other religions: 340 (0.44%)
• Hindu
  Hinduism
  Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
  
  : 170 (0.22%)
• Muslim
  Islam
  Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
  
  : 150 (0.20%)
• Jew
  Jews
  The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
  
  ish: 90 (0.12%)
• Eastern religions: 35 (0.05%)

K-12

Public schools in the Kamloops area are part of School District 73 Kamloops/Thompson

School District 73 Kamloops/Thompson

School District 73 Kamloops/Thompson a school district based in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.The school board serves the city of Kamloops and the communities of Chase, Barriere, Clearwater, Logan Lake, Blue River, Brennan Creek, Heffley Creek, Pinantan Lake, Savona, Vavenby, and...

. Private schools include Kamloops Christian School, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School (Catholic), and St. Ann's Academy

St. Ann's Academy (Kamloops)

St. Ann's Academy is a Catholic school, under the administration of CISKD school board.The school is co-educational, offering academic, fine arts, and business programs, as well as athletic, performing arts, and other extracurricular programs, for students from grades K to 12.-History:St...

 (Catholic).

Post-secondary

Thompson Rivers University

Thompson Rivers University

Thompson Rivers University is a comprehensive university located in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It offers students a broad range of courses, career streams, and the ability to ladder credits from diploma programs into full degrees...

 offers a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as certificate and diploma programs. It has satellite campus

Satellite campus

A satellite campus or branch campus is a campus of a college or university that is physically detached from the main university or college area, and is often smaller than the main campus of an institution....

es in

• Clearwater
  Clearwater, British Columbia
  Clearwater is a district municipality in the North Thompson River valley in British Columbia, Canada, north of Kamloops. The largest community in the valley, with a population of 4,960, Clearwater is predominantly employed by the forestry industry. Tourism is also a major industry, with Wells Gray...
  
  
• Barriere
  Barriere, British Columbia
  Barriere is a district municipality in central British Columbia, Canada, located 66 km north of the larger city of Kamloops on Highway 5. It is situated at the confluence of the Barriere and North Thompson Rivers in the Central North Thompson Valley...
  
  
• Chase
  Chase, British Columbia
  Chase is a village located in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It has a population of roughly 2,500, and its main industries are forestry and tourism. It is located at the outlet of Little Shuswap Lake, which is the source of the South Thompson River...
  
  
• Williams Lake
  Williams Lake, British Columbia
  Williams Lake, is a city in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the central part of a region known as the Cariboo, it is the largest urban centre between Kamloops and Prince George, with a population of 11,150 in city limits....
  
  

• 100 Mile House
• Cache Creek
  Cache Creek, British Columbia
  Cache Creek is a junction community northeast of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is on the Trans-Canada Highway in the province of British Columbia at its junction with northbound Highway 97...
  
  
• Ashcroft
• Lillooet
  Lillooet, British Columbia
  Lillooet is a community on the Fraser River in western Canada, about up the British Columbia Railway line from Vancouver. Situated at an intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, it has a dry climate- of precipitation is recorded annually at the town's weather station,...
  
  

Thompson Rivers University also has an open-learning division. Thompson Rivers University, Open Learning (TRU-OL) is the biggest distance and online education

E-learning

E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...

 provider in British Columbia and one of the biggest in Canada.

Sprott-Shaw Community College, a private post-secondary institution, has a campus in Kamloops.

Neighbourhoods

Officially recognised neighbourhood

Neighbourhood

A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...

s within the city of Kamloops.

Unofficially recognized areas are listed beneath the neighborhoods to which they belong:

• Aberdeen
• Barnhartvale
• Batchelor Hills
  Batchelor Hills
  Batchelor Hills is a neighbourhood of the city of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from that of Batchelor Hill, a local landmark named for Owen Salisbury Batchelor, an early settler, prospector and rancher who lived in the area....
  
  
• Brocklehurst
• Campbell Creek
• Dallas
  Dallas, Kamloops
  -Name origin:It was named for Alexander Grant Dallas, also the namesake of Dallas Road in Victoria, British Columbia, who was the son-in-law of Governor James Douglas and agent for the Hudson's Bay Company in colonial British Columbia and Vancouver Island, serving also as Chief Factor of Fort Garry...
  
  
• Downtown
• Dufferin
  Dufferin, Kamloops
  Dufferin is a neighbourhood of the City of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Originally its own municipality, created in 1971, it was amalgamated with the City of Kamloops in 1973.-References:...
  
  
• Heffley Creek
• Juniper Ridge
• Knutsford
  Knutsford, Kamloops
  Knutsford is a neighbourhood of the City of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, located on the south side of that city just west of Peterson Creek. It is named for Knutsford, Cheshire, by Robert Longridge, who took up ranching in the area in 1912.-References:...
  
  

• Lac Le Jeune
• Lower Sahali
  • Peterson Creek
• MacArthur Island
• Mission Flats
• Mount Dufferin
• Noble Creek
• North Kamloops
  North Kamloops
  North Kamloops is a neighbourhood of the City of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada....
  
  
• North Shore
• Pineview
• Rayleigh

• Rose Hill
• Southgate
• South Shore
• Sun Rivers
  Sun Rivers, British Columbia
  Sun Rivers is a community located on the northeastern side of Kamloops, BC on the Kamloops Indian Band Reserve against Mount Peter and Mount Paul. It is located east on Highway 5 near the junction with the Trans Canada Highway. It is developed around the Sun Rivers golf course. Although the golf...
  
  
• Thompson Rivers University
  Thompson Rivers University
  Thompson Rivers University is a comprehensive university located in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It offers students a broad range of courses, career streams, and the ability to ladder credits from diploma programs into full degrees...
  
  
• Tranquille
  Tranquille, Kamloops
  Tranquille is a neighbourhood of the City of Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, located on the northeast side of Kamloops Lake. It is the site of the Tranquille Institution, a youth prison, which was formerly and variously an Indian residential school, a home for the mentally handicapped, a...
  
  
• Upper Sahali
• Valleyview
• West End
  West End, Kamloops
  The West End is a South Shore neighbourhood of Kamloops, British Columbia in Canada. It is the city's oldest residential neighbourhood and has the largest proportion of heritage-designated homes.- Geography :...
  
  
• Westsyde
  • Westmount
  • Oak Hills

Notable people

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

Historical figures

• Edward Donald Bellew
  Edward Donald Bellew
  Edward Donald Bellew , Captain of the 7th Bn British Columbia Regiment, CEF was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.Bellew began his education at Blundell's...
  
  , recipient of the Victoria Cross
  Victoria Cross
  The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
  
  .
• Kanao Inouye
  Kanao Inouye
  Kanao Inouye was a Canadian citizen convicted of high treason and war crimes for his actions during World War II. Known as the "Kamloops Kid", he served as an interpreter and prison camp guard for the Imperial Japanese Army and the political police, or Kempeitai.- Early life in Canada :A Nisei ,...
  
  , the notorious "Kamloops Kid", the first of the two Canadians ever convicted of war crime
  War crime
  War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
  
  s.
• Donald McLean
  Donald McLean (fur trader)
  Donald McLean was a Scottish fur trader and explorer for the Hudson's Bay Company and who later became a cattle rancher near Cache Creek in British Columbia's Thompson Country . McLean was the last casualty of the Chilcotin War of 1864...
  
  , former Chief Trader of Fort Kamloops and one of the casualties of the Chilcotin War
  Chilcotin War
  The Chilcotin War, Chilcotin Uprising or Bute Inlet Massacre was a confrontation in 1864 between members of the Tsilhqot'in people in British Columbia and white road construction workers...
  
  .
• Allan McLean
  Allan McLean (outlaw)
  Allan McLean was a Canadian outlaw, born in Kamloops, British Columbia .His father Donald McLean, a Hudson's Bay Company chief trader, had taken charge of the company post at Thompson's River in 1855. The previous year he had married Sophia Grant, a Colville Indian...
  
  , son of Donald McLean and leader of the outlaw gang known as the Wild McLean Boys.
• Frank Robert Miller
  Frank Robert Miller
  Air Chief Marshal Frank Robert Miller, CC, CBE, CD was a Canadian airman, the last Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff in 1964, the first Chief of the Defence Staff from 1964 until 1966, and Deputy Minister of National Defence.-Military career:Frank Robert Miller was born in Kamloops, British Columbia...
  
  , former Deputy Minister
  Deputy Minister (Canada)
  In Canada, a deputy minister is the senior civil servant in a government department. He or she takes political direction from an elected minister. Responsibility for the department's day-to-day operations, budget and program development lie with the deputy minister...
  
   of National Defence
  Department of National Defence (Canada)
  The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
  
  .
• Bill Miner
  Bill Miner
  Ezra Allen Miner , more popularly known as Bill Miner, was a noted American criminal, originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, who served several prison terms for stagecoach robbery. Known for his unusual politeness while committing robberies, he was widely nicknamed The Gentleman Robber or The...
  
  , noted American stagecoach/train robber caught near Kamloops and put on trial in Kamloops.
• Chief Nicola
  Nicola (chief)
  Nicola , also Nkwala or N'kwala, was an important First Nations political figure in the fur trade era of the British Columbia Interior as well as into the colonial period...
  
  , conjoint chief of the Nicolas and the Kamloops Shuswap during the fur trade and gold rush eras.
• Robert and Henry Pratt
  Robert and Henry Pratt
  Robert and Henry Pratt were brothers who were the first settlers in central Barnhartvale, British Columbia, Canada. 'Pratt Road', a main residential access, is named after them....
  
  , first settlers in Barnhartvale, British Columbia.
• Johnny Ussher, settler, provincial magistrate and Gold Commissioner
  Gold Commissioner
  Gold Commissioner was an important regional administrative post in the Colony of British Columbia.In the 1860s, Governor Douglas had three priorities to protect the two colonies he governed: to protect the boundaries, to uphold law and order and to provide access to the gold fields...
  
   (killed by Allan McLean)
• Mark Sweeten Wade
  Mark Sweeten Wade
  Mark Sweeten Wade was a medical doctor and noted historian of early British Columbia history. A doctor at the Kamloops Home for Men in the 1920s, he was able to interview many veterans of the province's early gold rush, including many of the more famous names in the history of the Cariboo Road,...
  
  , medical doctor, newspaperman and historian.

Politicians

• Jack Davis
  Jack Davis (Canadian politician)
  John Davis, PC was a Canadian politician from British Columbia who was elected both federally and provincially.-Early life and education:...
  
  , politician who was elected both federally and provincially.
• John L. Frazer
  Jack Frazer
  John L. Frazer OMM, MSC was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1997....
  
  , was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1997.
• Edmund Davie Fulton
  Davie Fulton
  Edmund Davie Fulton, PC, OC, QC was a Canadian Rhodes Scholar, politician and judge. Popularly known as E. Davie Fulton. He was born in Kamloops, British Columbia, the son of politician/lawyer Frederick John Fulton and Winnifred M. Davie, daughter of A.E.B. Davie...
  
  , was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1945 to 1963, and 1965 to 1968.
• Kevin Krueger
  Kevin Krueger
  Kevin Krueger is a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. He represented the riding of Kamloops-North Thompson from 1996 to 2009, and currently represents Kamloops-South Thompson as of 2009....
  
  , BC Liberal
  British Columbia Liberal Party
  The British Columbia Liberal Party is the governing political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected for government in 1916, the party went into decline after 1952, with its rump caucus merging with the Social Credit Party for the 1975 election...
  
   Member of the Legislative Assembly
  Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
  The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....
  
   and Minister of Social Development as of October 25, 2010. currently represents Kamloops-South Thompson
  Kamloops-South Thompson
  Kamloops-South Thompson is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada established by the Electoral Districts Act, 2008. It will come into effect upon the next dissolution of the BC Legislature, currently scheduled for April 2009, and will first be contested in the ensuing...
  
   as of 2009.
• Terry Lake
  Terry Lake
  Terry Lake is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and a member of the BC Liberal Party. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the riding of Kamloops-North Thompson in the 2009 provincial election...
  
  , former mayor.
• Leonard Marchand
  Leonard Marchand
  Leonard Stephen Marchand, PC, CM is a former Canadian politician. He was the first person of First Nations ethnicity to serve in the federal cabinet, and was the first Status Indian to serve as a Member of Parliament....
  
  , QPC
  Queen's Privy Council for Canada
  The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
  
  , CM
  Order of Canada
  The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
  
  , the first person of First Nations
  First Nations
  First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
  
   ethnicity to serve in the federal cabinet and the first Status Indian
  Indian Register
  The Indian Register is the official record of Status Indians or Registered Indians in Canada. Status Indians have rights and benefits that are not granted to unregistered Indians, Inuit, or Métis, the chief benefits of which include the granting of reserves and of rights associated with them, an...
  
   to serve as a Member of Parliament
  Member of Parliament
  A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
  
  .
• Nelson Riis
  Nelson Riis
  Nelson Andrew Riis currently a businessman and is a former Canadian politician and New Democratic Party Member of Parliament .Riis graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.Ed, and MA...
  
  , former Kamloops alderman and Director of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, later federal MP for Kamloops.
• Peter Wing
  Peter Wing
  Peter Wing , CM, OBC was a Canadian politician and was the first mayor of Chinese descent in North America. He was born in Kamloops, British Columbia in 1914 and had lived most of his life there...
  
  , North America's first mayor of Chinese descent.

Sportspeople

• Dylan Armstrong
  Dylan Armstrong
  Dylan Armstrong is a Canadian shot putter born and raised in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.-Career:Armstrong achieved a personal best, and Canadian record at that time, of 21.04 meters at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he finished fourth, missing out on a medal by a single...
  
  , Olympic shot put
  Shot put
  The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
  
  ter who finished 4th in the 2008 Olympics
  2008 Summer Olympics
  The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
  
  
• Don Ashby
  Don Ashby
  Donald Allan Ashby was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played six seasons in the National Hockey League from 1975–76 until 1980–81....
  
  , former NHL
  National Hockey League
  The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
  
   ice hockey player
• Mitch Berger, NFL
  National Football League
  The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
  
   player
• Rick Boh
  Rick Boh
  John Richard Boh is a former professional ice hockey centre. He played eight games in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars during the 1987–88 season, scoring two goals and one assist....
  
  , former NHL
  National Hockey League
  The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
  
   ice hockey player
• Shane Doan
  Shane Doan
  Shane Albert Doan is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and captain of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League . Doan is the longest tenured player on the club, having played all fourteen of his NHL seasons with the original Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes franchise...
  
  , NHL ice hockey player
• Craig Endean
  Craig Endean
  Craig T. Endean is a retired National Hockey League left winger. In the 1986–87 NHL season, he played two games for the Winnipeg Jets, and registered one assist.-External links:...
  
  , former NHL ice hockey player
• Todd Esselmont
  Todd Esselmont
  Todd Esselmont is a professional hockey player, who played both ice and roller hockey professionally...
  
  , ice and roller hockey player
• Erin Gammel
  Erin Gammel
  Erin Gammel is an international backstroke swimmer from Canada, who competed for her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. There she finished in 17th position in the 100 m Backstroke, and in 11th place with the Canadian Relay Team in the 4x100 m Medley.-References:**...
  
  , is a swimmer who competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics
  2004 Summer Olympics
  The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
  
  
• Don Hay
  Don Hay
  Don Hay is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and National Hockey League head coach. He is the current head coach of the Vancouver Giants of the WHL....
  
  , former NHL head coach
• Murray Kennett
  Murray Kennett
  Murray Kennett is a former World Hockey Association player. He played for the Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers.-External links:...
  
  , is a former WHA
  World Hockey Association
  The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
  
   ice hockey player
• Doug Lidster
  Doug Lidster
  John Douglas Andrew Lidster is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played in the NHL...
  
  , former NHL ice hockey player
• Steve Marr
  Steve Marr
  Steve Marr is a former professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Leader Flyers of the Sask West Hockey League, a senior league in west central Saskatchewan.- Playing career :...
  
  , ice hockey defenceman.
• Bert Marshall
  Bert Marshall
  Albert Leroy "Moose" Marshall is a retired ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League for the Detroit Red Wings, California Golden Seals, New York Rangers and New York Islanders.-Playing career:...
  
  , former NHL ice hockey player
• Spencer McLennan
  Spencer McLennan
  Spencer McLennan is a former Canadian football player in the Canadian Football League for ten years years. McLennan played safety and slotback for the three teams, the British Columbia Lions, Montreal Alouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 1991-2000. He was a CFL East All-Star in...
  
  , Former CFL football player
• Don Moen, Former CFL football player
• Bob Mowat
  Bob Mowat
  Bob Mowat is a former World Hockey Association player for the Phoenix Roadrunners. He was born in Kamloops, British Columbia.-External links:...
  
  , former WHA ice hockey player
• Shane Niemi
  Shane Niemi
  Shane Niemi is a Canadian sprints athlete.-Achievements:He holds the current BC high school track and field 400m record of 46.8 in 1996 while he was attending Westsyde.-Personal bests:...
  
  , is a Canadian sprinter
• Kelly Olynyk
  Kelly Olynyk
  Kelly Olynyk is a Canadian basketball player, and a member of the Canada national men's basketball team. He is a Sophomore at Gonzaga University, where he plays basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs....
  
  , Gonzaga University
  Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball
  The Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Gonzaga University. The school competes in the West Coast Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
  
   and Canada international basketball player
• Paul Osbaldiston
  Paul Osbaldiston
  Paul Osbaldiston is a former punter and placekicker for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League from 1986-2003. Osbaldiston was a three-time CFL All-Star, seven-time East Division All-Star and a member of Hamilton’s 1986 and 1999 Grey Cup championship teams...
  
  , Former CFL football player
• Kevin Powell
  Kevin Powell
  Kevin Powell is an American political activist, poet, writer, and entrepreneur. Powell is also a nationally recognized activist who speaks against violence against girls and women, appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in March 2009...
  
  , Former CFL football player
• Mark Recchi
  Mark Recchi
  Mark Louis Recchi is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played 22 years in the National Hockey League , most notably for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens...
  
  , former NHL
  National Hockey League
  The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
  
   ice hockey player and Stanley Cup Champion (1991, 2006, 2011)
• Peter Soberlak
  Peter Soberlak
  Peter Soberlak is a former professional ice hockey left winger. He was drafted in the first round, 21st overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He never played in the National Hockey League, however.-External links:...
  
  , former AHL
  American Hockey League
  The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
  
   professional ice hockey player
• Brett Tippie, former CAD National Team Snowboadcross & GS,& pioneer professional Mountain biker, MTB Hall of Fame.
• Dave Vankoughnett
  Dave Vankoughnett
  Dave Vankoughnett is a former professional Canadian football offensive lineman who played eleven seasons in the Canadian Football League.- References :*...
  
  , Former CFL football player
• Tim Watters
  Tim Watters
  Timothy John Watters is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman.Tim Watters was a rarity in the National Hockey League , a physical defenceman who stood under 6 feet tall and under 200 pounds...
  
  , former NHL ice hockey player

Arts, culture and media

• Steven Galloway
  Steven Galloway
  Steven Galloway is a Canadian novelist.Galloway was born in Vancouver, and raised in Kamloops, British Columbia. He attended the University College of the Cariboo and the University of British Columbia. Galloway teaches for the UBC creative writing program...
  
  , novelist, was raised in Kamloops
• Boris Karloff
  Boris Karloff
  William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
  
  , actor, joined the Jeanne Russell theatre company in Kamloops in September 1911
• Mark Madryga
  Mark Madryga
  Mark Madryga is a Canadian meteorologist. He is best known as an on-air personality for Global BC, and maintains television celebrity status in British Columbia.- Education :...
  
  , meteorologist for Environment Canada and news weather forecaster for Global BC
  CHAN-TV
  CHAN-DT is a television station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, broadcasting over-the-air on digital channel 22, and available via cable providers in the area on channel 11. Owned by Shaw Communications as a part of its Shaw Media division, it is the West Coast flagship station of the...
  
  
• Chris Masuak
  Chris Masuak
  Chris Masuak is a Canadian-born Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter. He is as a member of the influential Sydney-based punk rock group Radio Birdman, which formed in 1974, and for his other outfits The Hitmen, and The Screaming Tribesmen...
  
  , Punk rock
  Punk rock
  Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
  
   singer-songwriter
  Singer-songwriter
  Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
  
   Australian Music Hall of Famer, born in Kamloops - lived in Brocklehurst (North Kamloops) in the '60s. Now resides in Spain.
• John Pozer
  John Pozer
  John Pozer is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and editor. He has had two independent features selected to the Cannes International Film Festival and directed a slate of episodic television, both live action and animation.-Biography:...
  
  , award-winning filmmaker
• Michael Shanks
  Michael Shanks
  Michael Garrett Shanks is a Canadian actor who achieved fame for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the long-running Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.-Early life:...
  
  , actor, born in Vancouver, but grew up in Kamloops
• Andrea Smith
  Andrea Smith
  Andrea Smith born and raised in Kamloops and Shuswap regions of British Columbia. Smith now calls Nanaimo B.C., her home. Music has always been a part of Smith's life. She was formally trained in piano from the age of five and later played the flute, alto sax, and guitar.Smith started to write and...
  
  , singer-songwriter
  Singer-songwriter
  Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
  
  
• Elise Gatien
  Elise Gatien
  Elise Gatien is a Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Candance "CJ" Ward in the Cartoon Network live-action series Tower Prep.-Career:...
  
  , actress
  Actor
  An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
  
  

Other notable people

• Lesra Martin
  Lesra Martin
  Lesra Martin is a Canadian lawyer and motivational speaker. He is known for helping to bring about the release of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.-Background:Lesra Martin was born into a troubled family in 1963...
  
  , resident lawyer who helped with Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter's
  Rubin Carter
  Rubin "Hurricane" Carter fought professionally as a middleweight boxer from 1961 to 1966. In 1966, he was arrested for a triple homicide in the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, New Jersey...
  
   prison release.
• Merle Terlesky
  Merle Terlesky
  Merle Terlesky is a Canadian conservative activist and aspiring politician originally from Kamloops, British Columbia. Once affiliated with the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, a pro-choice organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Terlesky has since become pro-life...
  
  , conservative activist.

Politics

Elections in to the municipality in Kamloops are held with the rest of the province every three years.

Provincially, Kamloops is considered to be bellwether

Bellwether

A bellwether is any entity in a given arena that serves to create or influence trends or to presage future happenings.The term is derived from the Middle English bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram leading his flock of sheep.The movements of...

, having voted for the governing party in every provincial election since the introduction of parties to British Columbian elections. By contrast, Kamloops has regularly voted against the party in power federally until the 2006 Federal election. Kamloops is represented in two provincial ridings

Electoral district (Canada)

An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

 – Kamloops

Kamloops (provincial electoral district)

Kamloops was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada from 1903 to 2009. The provincial constituency should not be confused with the former federal electoral district of Kamloops, which encompassed a much larger area.For other ridings named Kamloops...

 and Kamloops-North Thompson – and one federal riding – Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo

Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo

Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004...

.

• Mayor – Peter Milobar
• Members of the Legislative Assembly:
  • Kevin Krueger
    Kevin Krueger
    Kevin Krueger is a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. He represented the riding of Kamloops-North Thompson from 1996 to 2009, and currently represents Kamloops-South Thompson as of 2009....
    
    , Kamloops
  • Terry Lake
    Terry Lake
    Terry Lake is a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and a member of the BC Liberal Party. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the riding of Kamloops-North Thompson in the 2009 provincial election...
    
    , Kamloops-North Thompson

Federal Members of Parliament:

• Cathy McLeod
  Cathy McLeod
  Cathy McLeod is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the electoral district of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo in the 2008 Canadian federal election...
  
   (2008–present) Conservative Party of Canada
  Conservative Party of Canada
  The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
  
  
• Betty Hinton
  Betty Hinton
  Betty Zane Hinton is a Canadian politician, previously representing the constituency of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo in the federal parliament....
  
   (2000–2008) Conservative Party of Canada
• Nelson Riis
  Nelson Riis
  Nelson Andrew Riis currently a businessman and is a former Canadian politician and New Democratic Party Member of Parliament .Riis graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.Ed, and MA...
  
   (1980–2000) New Democratic Party
  New Democratic Party
  The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
  
  
• Don Cameron
  Donald Niel Cameron
  Donald Niel Cameron was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a heavy construction contractor by career....
  
   (1979–1980) Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
  Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
  The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
  
  
• Leonard Marchand
  Leonard Marchand
  Leonard Stephen Marchand, PC, CM is a former Canadian politician. He was the first person of First Nations ethnicity to serve in the federal cabinet, and was the first Status Indian to serve as a Member of Parliament....
  
   (1968–1979) Liberal Party of Canada
  Liberal Party of Canada
  The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
  
  

Planetary nomenclature

The city's name has been given to a crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...

 on the surface of Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

. Crater Kamloops was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (IAU/WGPSN) in 1991. The crater lies at 53.8° south latitude and 32.6° west longitude, with a diameter of 65 km (40.4 mi).

Sister cities

Bacolod

Bacolod

Bacolod may refer to the following:*Bacolod City, the capital city of Negros Occidental, Philippines*Metro Bacolod*Bacolod, Lanao del Norte, a municipality in Lanao del Norte, Philippines*BRP Bacolod City , a transport ship of the Philippine Navy...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 Uji

Uji, Kyoto

is a city on the southern outskirts of the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Founded on March 1, 1951, Uji is located between the two ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto. The city sits on the Uji River, which has its source in Lake Biwa. As of April 1, 2008, Uji has an estimated population...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 San Cristóbal

San Cristóbal, Táchira

San Cristóbal is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Táchira. It is located in a mountainous region of Western Venezuela. The city is situated 818 m/2,625 ft above sea level in the northern Andes overlooking the Torbes River, 56 km/35 mi from the Colombian border. San...

, Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

In media

In "Cementhead," a 1989 episode

Episode

An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...

 of the television series Booker

Booker (TV series)

Booker is an American crime drama series starring Richard Grieco that aired on the Fox Network from September 24, 1989 to May 6, 1990. The series was a spin-off of 21 Jump Street...

, the titular

Title role

The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins or Othello. The actor, singer or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role....

 detective

Detective

A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

 (played by Richard Grieco

Richard Grieco

Richard John Grieco, Jr. is an American actor and former fashion model.-Early life:Richard Grieco was born in Watertown, New York, the son of Carolyn and Richard Grieco. He is of Italian and Irish descent. Grieco played football for Central Connecticut State University.-Career:Grieco worked as a...

) tracks a capricious professional hockey player (Stephen Shellen) back to his hometown of Kamloops.

The locally produced sketch-comedy program Euphoria Emporium

Euphoria Emporium

Euphoria Emporium was a sketch-based comedy program shown on the public access channel Cable 10 in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. It aired from 1991–1994, with a total of 19 half-hour episodes. It achieved a local cult following, which led to the ill-fated, MTV-funded feature Neurotica...

 featured many locations and landmarks around Kamloops in its run from 1991 to 1994.

Kamloops and surrounding areas have been used for various Hollywood films such as The A Team

The A-Team (film)

The A-Team is an American action film based on the television series of the same name. It was released in cinemas in the United States on June 11, 2010, by 20th Century Fox. The film was directed by Joe Carnahan and produced by Stephen J. Cannell and the Scott brothers Ridley and Tony...

, 2012

2012 (film)

2012 is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures...

, The Pledge

The Pledge (film)

The Pledge is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Sean Penn. It is based on the 1958 novella Das Versprechen: Requiem auf den Kriminalroman , by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt...

, Shooter, Firewall

Firewall (film)

Firewall is a 2006 British-American thriller film directed by Richard Loncraine and written by Joe Forte. Harrison Ford stars as Jack Stanfield, a security expert at a bank faced with a corporate merger and the offer of a new job.-Plot:...

, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (film)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a 2005 American film, based on the novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Ken Kwapis and written by Delia Ephron.The film's production budget was $25 million...

and various others.

External links

• City website
• Kamloops in Wikitravel
• 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