Press Releases

The virus does not take weekends off and neither should you! Continue to isolate, practice hygiene and be careful with the Elders' health. And please be patient as we work to provide services to you.

We are taking the extraordinary step of closing all OKIB offices for a minimum of 3 weeks, from March 17 to April 6, 2020 or until further notice. OKIB phone lines will remain open and staff are working remotely in order to do our best to provide the same levels of service that you are used to. Reception will direct calls to the appropriate staff. See the news release for important phone numbers.

Effective March 16, 2020 @ 4:30 p.m. all OKIB operations/buildings including the daycare, Cultural Immersion School and Language Nest will be shut down for 3 weeks. It is important that we all need to work together to halt COVID-19 transmission, through regular handwashing and social distancing.

As a precautionary measure to help minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the decision has been made, based on the advice of the BC Medical Officer of Health, to suspend all OKIB events that involve public gatherings, including closure of Head of Lake Hall and the Wellness Centre; New Horizons Community Hall; and Blue Bird Building public meeting rooms.

Chief Byron Louis and Councillors of the Okanagan Band, members of the Syilx/Okanagan Nation today expressed their support for the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs who are attempting to protect their land by blocking TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline from Alberta to the BC coast.

WHEN: Tuesday February 4, 2020 at 5:30 - 7:30 pm WHERE: Head of the Lake Hall, 118 Head of the Lake RD TOPIC: Project Update - Enrollment and Funding Everyone welcome—light refreshments provided