Press Releases

An important gathering place for our community will be restored announce Chief and Council.

Today Chief and Council of the Okanagan Indian Band requested that all non-Okanagan and non-residents (tourists/visitors) stay away from Okanagan Indian Band reserve lands during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

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.