A meeting billed to be of “critical importance” to northern Saskatchewan will be held next week in Prince Albert.
It is being organized by New North, a northern municipal lobby group, which is inviting municipal, First Nations and Metis leaders — as well as representatives of the federal and provincial governments — to come up with a “Made-in-the-North” strategy.
Team leader Duane Favel is the mayor of Ile a la Crosse. Favel says there are lots of government plans and policies out there, but they are piecemeal and are not really serving the needs of the north.
He wants community leaders to come up with solutions and to speak with one voice.
“We are trying to put together some kind of framework or strategy by northerners, for northerners,” he says. “Hopefully we can convince governments to support such a process.”
Favel says there has been more attention paid to the special needs of the north in the wake of the tragic shootings in La Loche in January, but he says that is not enough.
He says it is time for a new look at what needs to be done, and how that should happen.
“I think that part of the problem is that nobody really knows what to do or how to move forward to make things right,” he says.
The meeting will be held at the Travelodge in Prince Albert next Thursday, June 16. A big turnout is expected.
A well-known expert and author on northern governance and Aboriginal affairs, Ken Coates, from the University of Saskatchewan will act as facilitator for what is expected to be the first of several meetings aimed at developing a strategy.