The legacy of Occupy Kamloops
KAMLOOPS — No one knew what would happen next. We gathered in anticipation in front of the Kamloops Library on October 15, 2011. The Occupy movement was sweeping the globe and its reach extended to Kamloops.
These giddy times reminded me of the Hippy Movement of the 1960’s but these participants were more focused and clear-headed: no drugs, psychedelic music and free love.
More than 950 demonstrations were planned for that day in 82 countries on every continent, in every Canadian province, eight in British Columbia.
Seven years later, with the euphoria faded and the legacy unclear, I wanted to capture the moment before it was lost. When Professor Trish Archibald from the Social Work program at Thompson Rivers University invited me to write a chapter in an upcoming book, I jumped at the chance. She was assembling a team to write a history of social justice in Kamloops since the Second World War.