Kamloops man jailed for serving soup at city hall protest won’t face charges

A Kamloops homeless advocate, who was handcuffed and held in custody until a city hall demonstration was dismantled on Friday, walked away with no criminal charges.

RCMP were called to help bylaw officers who weren’t successful on their own in an effort to disperse the demonstrators.

“It’s one of those classic civil disobedience, truth-to-power scenarios,” Glenn Hilke told iNFOnews.ca, Monday, Dec. 22.

Hilke had organized the demonstration in front of city hall, Dec. 19, where they called for the city to provide services for the homeless and demonstrators handed out soup. Roughly ten people, including demonstrators and homeless people, were there when police arrived.

“First, bylaws came and said their supervisor told them to come and have us close this down. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, they said none were available,” Hilke said.

They told Hilke he needed a permit, but couldn’t convince him to shut down the event. Hilke planned to keep the event going until 1 p.m., but bylaw officers left and returned around 12 p.m. with Kamloops RCMP officers.

He was handcuffed and driven to city cells where he was searched and locked up until the demonstration ended.

“I didn’t get charged criminally. They made that clear while I was handcuffed in the car, but they also said that they refused to release me on site,” Hilke said. “As the constable said, ‘I know if I release you on site, you’re just going to go back and start serving soup again.'”

Kamloops RCMP confirmed it was called to assist bylaw officers who were told to “move the operation across the street.” After Hilke refused, he was arrested without incident for obstruction of a police officer and mischief. He was released with no charges anticipated.

The city’s acting protective services director, Alisha Beday, said the event by Hilke’s organization was done with any permitting. The group, which has hosted pop-up soup kitchens elsewhere, operates without a business licence and had no permitting to host an event or hand out food.

She didn’t comment specifically on whether any fines were handed out, but she suggested the enforcement was not about a political demonstration.

“I guess this is what the distinction could be is a demonstration versus providing and offering services to members of the public,” she said. “From what I gather, there were food and beverages being offered. There may have been a message behind the event, but when it comes to offering food and services, it does change the dynamic.”

Asked about continued enforcement or fines from bylaw officers, Hilke would not comment.

“At this point, because we have legal counsel, they suggested I not speak anymore about those kinds of issues,” he said.