IS NORTH SHORE A SAFE PLACE FOR THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO LIVE & WORK ?

North Shore – an area on the other side of the Thompson Rivers in Kamloops which is stereotyped by local people and students as dangerous and full of crime. Is it true or are these just myths surrounding North Shore? Read below to find out how North Shore is from my perspective and see how I unravel some of these mysteries of North shore.

Md Miftahul islam sakib

I am a student of Thompson Rivers University and I have been living in Vancouver before classes started to go offline in the fall semester. Due to the pandemic, a lot of International students were stuck back home and when physical classes started all of them were in a rush to arrive in Kamloops to attend in- person classes. This resulted in a housing crisis and I myself got impacted by it. Most of the students were looking for accommodation near the University, which was quite tough to find and thus, they started thinking about settling down in North shore. Like every other student who couldn’t find themselves a place near University, I also decided to search for accommodation in North shore and I luckily got a room in a shared house. But on the first day of my arrival in Kamloops I got to listen bizarre stories about North shore …….

One of my classmates started saying, “North shore is not a very good place, watch out for junkies in your area, especially when you are waiting for the bus at North shore exchange”. This one statement aroused a lot of questions in my mind. In the beginning, while I travelled to university from North shore everything seemed to be quite normal, but my whole perspective about North shore changed when a group of junkie tried stabbing a passenger waiting for bus infront of me . From that instance, I started believing in all the rumours I heard about North Shore.

Junkie trying to scare a passenger at bus stop to help him with illicit drugs in North Shore Bus Exchange

Since that day I started to stay more cautious while travelling around North Shore. The junkies and homeless people of North shore are scary but there are ways you can avoid it by keeping a safe distance from them at the bus stop and by trying to keep yourself busy on your phone and most importantly by not making eye contact with them.

Recently, the student population in North Shore increased due to the housing crisis in Kamloops and thus the creepy vibe of North shore is becoming a bit stable.The adult club,“Duchess”, on the Tranquille road at North Shore closed down for covid and since then crime rate is also going down but there is still risk . The main reason why students don’t prefer living and working in North shore is because it takes about an hour to reach TRU by bus and the bus service is not quite good in North shore.All the buses stop/slow down their service after 7 to North shore which is a hassle for students who do not have a car.

Empty bus stops at North shore become a place for junkies to gather and create chaos for general public

The myths surrounding North Shore are real in some cases but they are not nerve racking.For example , the Tim Hortons coffee shop on Tranquille road was shut down due to mutliple break-ins by homeless people in less than 24 hours and a Cash Money store was robbed twice in the same day which actually supports the fact that North shore is not very safe but since there is no option now , students can choose to live inNorth shore and as the population increases, the crime rate will start to deplete and North shore will move towards being a safer place.

Students with a car view North shore in a different way because when you are physically not walking or coming in contact with homeless people/junkies half of the stress and anxiety about facing a grime situation decreases and then the safety issue is not a big factor.

Typical scenario of a junkie with a stolen trolley at a bus stop in North Shore

To conclude North shore is a suitable place for students but they should always stay cautious of their surrounding and if possible they can get a personal car which helps a lot.The rumours about North shore being unsafe is true but once you start living here , you can call it home.