An announcement made by the Canadian Forces Snowbirds regarding the Snowbirds' departure to Moose Jaw has been clarified as referring to Snowbirds team members in Halifax, not the Snowbirds aircraft in Kamloops.
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds announced in a Facebook post that the team members will be taking off at approximately 2:15 p.m. today, May 25, to return to the 15 Wing centre in Moose Jaw.
The post has since been corrected at the request of Public Affairs Officer Lieutenant Alexandra Hejduk due to its ambiguity.
Hejduk clarified that while the Snowbirds fleet will be remaining in Kamloops indefinitely, the Snowbirds team members in Halifax will be leaving today, following their attendance at the homecoming of Captain Jennifer Casey, a military Public Affairs Officer who was killed in a Snowbirds crash in Kamloops, May 17.
As the investigation into the crash is still in its preliminary stages, the date when the Tutor aircraft fleet will leave Kamloops is still up in the air, Hejduk said.
The team arrived in Kamloops May 16 for Operation Inspiration, the campaign to spread hope across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the Tutor jets crashed into a Brocklehurst neighbourhood on May 17. Capt. Jenn Casey, the Snowbirds public affairs officer, lost her life in the incident, and pilot Capt. Richard MacDougall is recovering from serious injuries.
— This story was corrected at 12:57 p.m. May 25. The initial Facebook post made by the Canadian Forces Snowbirds referred to the departure of Snowbirds members in Halifax to Moose Jaw, not the Snowbirds aircraft, which will remain in Kamloops. The date of their departure is not known at this time. The initial Facebook post has since been corrected.
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