A University of Saskatchewan professor says a clear and concise agenda for northern Saskatchewan will catch the attention of the government.
Dr. Ken Coates spoke at a New North gathering of northern municipal leaders yesterday. During his presentation, Coates challenged the northern mayors to determine the biggest issues that they can all agree upon and present those ideas to the government for change.
“There are two things about developing a clear agenda,” said the university professor. “Number one is clarity on the agenda; you can’t have 180 things that are important to you, you need to focus on 2 or 3 things. The second thing is the strength of the collective buy-in… each idea has to be ratified by community after community and First Nation after First Nation, so when government gets these ideas it is hard to ignore.”
Coates says the federal government tends to work slow and can be frustrating, but a societal shift can help speed up change. He says a shift in society can be helped along by a clear agenda put forward by northern leaders.
“If you actually get society to say we want to go in a different direction or we want to go exactly to this point, that is a very powerful approach,” said Dr. Coates. “The problems are real, but the solutions have to be ones the north itself embraces and supports.”
He also encouraged northerners to embrace new technology to help with the problems of isolation in the north.
Coates received his Ph.D from the University of British Columbia and focuses on the history of the Canadian north and Aboriginal rights and Indigenous claims.