Kxansulaxw Hall performs a traditional drum song during a ground breaking ceremony for the expansion of the Osoyoos Indian Band’s Health Centre at the Nk’Mip resource centre on Tuesday. Sophie Gray/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sophie Gray 

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A The Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) held a brief ceremony to celebrate the beginning of construction of the expansion of the Nk’Mip Health Centre on the Osoyoos Indian Band Reserve.

Mayor of Oliver, Martin Johnson, OIB Chief Clarence Louie and council members, health centre staff and Dr. Peter Entwistle were among the crowd of about 30 who came to witness the event.

The ceremony began with Chief Clarence acknowledging the blessing of the area by a local OIB member who smudged before any work began. Chief Louie then introduced Kxansulaxw Hall to perform a traditional song while the smudging was completed.

Mayor Johansen spoke first, thanking Chief Louie for the invitation to attend.

“I’d like to thank Chief Louie for inviting us here today. This is an exciting day for OIB and Dr. Entwistle. Dr. Entwistle has been a strong visionary, pushing through this project,” he said. “When this primary care centre is fully staffed out with, I believe, up to four doctors, it will be a really good example of team-based health care.”

The clinic will be run jointly by the OIB and the Town  of Oliver to serve both communities. The expansion will allow for a dedicated space for a fully functioning walk-in clinic, which is currently offered in a joint space with the Nk’Mip resource centre. The expansion will also allow for more patients to be seen by doctors from both the OIB community and the Oliver community.

“They’ve been running a drop-in clinic out of here for a year or so with Dr. Entwistle,” said Chief Louie. “I’m always surprised when I come over here to see a lot of non-Natives sitting out here waiting to go see the doctor. That’s kind of cool. That’s never happened before, so now they’ll have a fully functional building to operate out of.”

The project, which began Tuesday, is slated to be completed in November of this year. The project has been under consideration for a while, said Chief Louie, but is able to be built so quickly thanks to dedicated First Nations health funding in the province.

“We’ve talked about expanding the health centre for many many years, but really it started about a year ago with this particular project,” said Chief Louie. “We were lucky enough ti get First Nations Health Authority to provide most of the funding for it. B.C. is the only province with a First Nation Health Authority, so they have staff throughout the province and a budget, so they’re the ones that came up with the funding to mostly fund this project.”

First Nations Health Authority representatives were unable to attend the ceremony today due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The expansions will offer opportunities for jobs to the OIB during construction and once completed, is a service that is much needed.