Westbank First Nation News

Westbank First Nation sculpture unveiled at Big White

KELOWNA – A statue donated to Big White Ski Resort by the Westbank First Nation has been unveiled today, Dec. 5. The statue was created by artist Smoker Marchand and is based on the First Nation’s logo, according to a media release.  It features a grizzly bear, coyote and Ogopogo. The base of the statue...

Westbank First nation youth centre to open next year

WEST KELOWNA - Aborignal youth will soon be moving into a veritable palace of a youth centre, at least compared to what they now have. “It’s 2,100 square feet, far too small to accommodate our needs, it’s second hand purchased in 1998,” Chief Robert Louie says, of the current facility located in a modular building...

Cracks were showing in Westbank First Nation’s private hospital plan last year

WESTBANK FIRST NATION - Despite assertions from the partners behind Canada’s first for-profit private hospital that it is proceeding as planned, documents show the deal to develop the Lake Okanagan Wellness Centre was in disarray last year. When it became clear in October 2014 that Ad Vitam Health Care was out of money and unable...

Stalled private hospital has Westbank band members, police asking questions about finances

FUNDING COLLAPSE; RECALL CAMPAIGN WESTBANK FIRST NATION - Canada’s first private, for-profit hospital, slated for development on Westbank First Nation land, has stalled amid lost venture capital funding and criminal allegations and the political fallout could claim the band’s chief and councillors. The Lake Okanagan Wellness Centre is a project the band announced with much...