Relationship building at heart of this basketball game

A charity basketball game took over the gymnasium at Cst. Neil Bruce School Thursday afternoon.

The friendly affair was an opportunity for the community, youth, and the West Kelowna RCMP Indigenous Services to build relationships.

“The job has changed, and we are more community-based and we want to enjoy and have the support of the community to help our youth understand what the RCMP does,” Cst. Rolly Williams said. “By doing these programs it helps them understand that … they can approach us without fearing anything and being comfortable around us.”

The basketball game is just one piece of a puzzle, centered around Truth and Reconciliation. The officers and many of the students they faced on the hard court have worked together in the past.

Williams said the officers and students have made drums, had Westbank First Nation elders speak to them about connection to culture, and even learned the Okanagan Song.

The officer said it was rewarding to play at a school that bore the namesake of a fellow former officer.

Neil Bruce was an RCMP officer, joining the force in 1959. He was fatally wounded on the morning of April 10, 1965, while attempting to rescue a young woman who was being confined in a cabin in Powers Creek in West Kelowna. He died in the Kelowna General Hospital four days later at the age of 26, leaving being a wife, son, and daughter.

As for the ball game, the officers snagged the win 39-21 over the Grade 8 students.